This interview with Guy Kawasaki made me cringe, because I am definitely guilty of ‘war and peace’ emails. Note to self : Master the 5 line email (or the 5 line blog).

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/business/21corner.html

Am trying to add easy share buttons on my blog, and its not as simple as I had hoped it would be.
Have managed to get it on my sidebar, but somehow the image isn’t showing up. Can someone help?

A = iPhones encourage people to take more busses with its applications,
B = Busses are good for the environment, therefore;
C = iPhones are good for the environment.

There are only a few applications on my iPhone that I access on a daily basis – Email, Facebook, New York Times, and my bus applications. Yes, bus applications, plural. I have 2 on my phone – tranSGuide and SG Buses. While they may not be totally accurate (allow for 2-3 minutes adjustments), I love them because they allow me to control the worst part of taking public transport, which is the waiting. They let me know when I need to leave the house in the morning and more importantly when I need to leave the office when the temptation is highest to jump into a taxi is high after a hard days’ work.

The timings on tranSGuide seem more accurate, but SG Busses has the added advantage of showing the subsequent bus arrival times too, so you know if you need to leg it and catch that bus, or chill if there’s another 3-4 minutes behind.

There is much to be said about an application that keeps me responsible in more ways than one. I now have less of an excuse to spend money on a taxi, AND, i’m committing to helping to save the environment by opting for busses!

tranSGuide example

SG Busses example

Both parts are essential and should not be ignored. I myself am much better at (2) than I am at (1) which is something I am aware of and consciously always trying to work on.

This article in the New York Times has some interesting points on delegating work, being ‘present’ when you are engaging someone and humour (don’t underestimate it when hiring!). Hope you find it as insightful as I did.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/business/28corner.html

This video was made for BBC’s The Wall and depicts what Facebook would be in real life. It points out the obvious silliness in things we find fun on Facebook like making connections with long lost ‘friends’, poking, writing on walls, etc.

Its really quite a silly video, but somehow I quite liked it. Thank goodness they didn’t have access to sheep.

While I think I do post, comment and share responsibly, ultimately I can only be responsible for my own actions and not those of my friends, acquaintances and all of their friends.

This article in the NYT ‘How Privacy Vanishes Online’ is just one of the many reminders that “When you’re doing stuff online, you should behave as if you’re doing it in public — because increasingly, it is.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/technology/17privacy.html?src=me&ref=homepage

So before you post or publish, always review what you’ve written or pictures you’ve posted and think about how much you are really telling people. Think about it not only in the context of that post itself, but how it fits into everything else you have already said or will ever say. Ultimately you may be revealing more that you intended to.

Is it weird that I keep track of my siblings via their blogs?

http://token110.wordpress.com/

http://hansdc.wordpress.com/

Hoi An has been a great first stop so far. It’s still a somewhat sleepier than other Asean holiday destinations, with a small town charm that will be hard to retain as it gets more commercialised. I do hope it manages to hold on a while more – I’d like to come back someday.
We’re staying near the town center somewhere along the river. That’s where you can find all the tailors this town is famous for. The beach is about 4km from here, a 20 minute picturesque but also quite scary bicycle ride.If you’re planning on coming primarily to utilise the many tailors, I’d suggest you stay around here to minimise time on the road.

The Victoria Hoi An beach is nice, and with one of the longest stretches of white beach I’ve ever seen, definitely worth a visit. But the nicer (and more expensive) resorts are self contained, and you probably experience less local culture unless you make your way to the public areas of the beach which on a weekend can be like Bondi Beach on the first day of summer.

Back to the tailors. Come prepared. Bring pictures or samples of items you want. Or be patient to flip through old catalogues and magazines hoping to spot the design of your intended skirt or dress. Turnaround is overnight. You can even get custom shoes made!
I’m picking up my orders today. Am properly excited.

First, off to get some breakfast!

A couple of months back, I decided that it was time for me to join the ranks of those who already on the Mobile Internet and so I started looking for a phone that would allow me to surf on the go. When I started my search, I didn’t even consider looking at the iphone because I have been a loyal Starhub subscriber for the longest time. I had actually already decided on a HTC HD  Touch. Shortly thereafter, I had a few conversations with iphone users, and after fiddling around with the iphone a few times I changed my mind and decided i’d take the plunge and switch to Singtel. After all, the price plans between both providers are now pretty close and the lure of the iphone was quite strong.

So today I got of work and made my way to a Singtel shop. After ‘verifying’ my identity (?!?!), the shop assistant announced that I have have to put down an $800 deposit to purchase the iphone. According to her, there have been too many ‘fraudsters’ who buy an iphone for cheap and run away with it. The result is the new $800 deposit policy. Joy. Rather than waste my time arguing with her further, I said, well, Singtel’s just lost a potential customer and left. I left not because I don’t have the money. It was a matter of principle that i choose not to bear the punishment Singtel is imposing because of the faults of their other customers.

By the time I came home, I was still fuming, which led me to send Singtel a complaint letter. My point to them was that such a policy should be clearly articulated in all their iphone communications so that consumers won’t get a rude shock when the get down to the shop. Had this been written into the website, I would not have bothered to go down in the first place.

After I sent the letter, I did some searching online, and found out that this policy has been in force arbitrarily for a while. Apparently (based on some forum postings I came across), Singtel and their shops practise perfect discrimination in that random individuals get ‘chosen’ to have this deposit rule imposed on them. Employment Pass workers, Work Permit workers are some of them. Was I ‘chosen’ because I am Malaysian? I can’t verify this for real, but it certainly didn’t help my mood. I really do hope someone from Singtel gets back to me with an explanation.  I’d like to find out a bit more about this policy.

I am a good customer. Fiercely loyal (stupidly?) and reliable. I pay my bills on time and don’t leave balances outstanding on my credit card. They should check my credit rating.

Its a shame that my excitement of owning an iphone has been marred by this organisation who claims to be Asia’s Leading Communications Group.

 No thanks Singtel, I’ll stick with Starhub.