Nathan's ... ...

This was playing in the background earlier in the office. Have...

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:59:05 +1200

This was playing in the background earlier in the office. Have to share this. David Grey - This Years Love

Derek Sivers: Keep your goals to yourself. Agree

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:48:00 +1200

Derek Sivers: Keep your goals to yourself. Agree

Saying Goodbye

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 09:46:41 +1200

Saying goodbye to people you love (and who equally love you) is really really hard.

Nancy’s had her last day at the nursery yesterday because from next Monday she will be going to the pre-school. It was an emotional day for all of us. Colleen (Nancy’s teacher) and my wife started crying in the middle of a sentence and couldn’t go on. And she still crying at the dinner table when spoke to me about it.

It has been a year and a half since Nancy started at the nursery. It has been challenging along the way for all of us. But knowing there is someone you can trust certainly make the whole process a lot of easier. To Nancy, she needed someone she could trust and rely onto as well and she certainly got that from the nursery.

One of the many advantages of starting kindy early is the opportunities to interact with other children. Being the only child at home, Nancy certainly got the idea of sharing, caring and playing with others. Other activities like painting, drawing certainly helps her to explore her artistic potential and the list goes on and on. We glad that the nursery provided all the opportunities.

The Chinese proverb says “there is no everlasting banquet”. As much as we love Nancy to stay in the most comfortable environment, we also like her to explore the world and life more. Saying goodbye is hard, but we also looking forward to the future. Thank you everyone for helping Nancy along the way, we deeply appreciate it.

This remind me of my grandma, who I grew up with and who had...

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:19:25 +1200

This remind me of my grandma, who I grew up with and who had been a tailor for 30+ years

Flood Lite: Apple's Attention to Detail

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 06:45:27 +1200

Flood Lite: Apple's Attention to Detail:

In July 2002, Appled filed a patent for a “Breathing Status LED Indicator” (No. US 6,658,577 B2). They described it as a “blinking effect of the sleep-mode indicator in accordance with the present invention mimics the rhythm of breathing which is psychologically appealing.”

The average…

"When you are young, you have more time than money, and LimeWire is worth the hassle. As you get..."

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 16:08:00 +1200

“When you are young, you have more time than money, and LimeWire is worth the hassle. As you get older, you have more money than time.”

- Chris Anderson on The Web Is Dead

JRA Best Workplaces Survey 2010

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:16:00 +1200

Just completed the Best Workplaces Survey. Very interesting that the top 3 of the 12 categories are

Culture and Values
Common Purpose
Communication and Cooperation

And if it’s based on the importance of cultivating a successful organisation, I would totally agree with it.

Who's the best at wooing IT students at @summeroftech

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 17:27:00 +1200

Last night, we (@redvspanz and @thebakit) were at Summer of Tech meet and greet in search for top BA and Design students who can help us with couple of projects during summer.

There were around 40 companies who are “fighting” to attract TOP talents (who doesn’t). Each company had JUST 1 minute to introduce themselves as well as the project. It needed to be brief, also straight to the point (no messing around here). As much as companies want best students, students want to work for coolest/best companies as well. There are quite a few intros caught my eye, for different strategies they were using in the intro. Personally, I would like to work for them if I was a students.

Catalyst - Concise and Most Energetic intro. Peter Torr-Smith @ptorrsmith nailed what the company does and what they are looking for under 1 minute. Most importantly, the intro is full of energy. I love people with great energy, and personally, I believe you need to have great passion in whatever you do.

Green Button - What’s in there for me? Green Button CEO (sorry, didn’t get his name) was also a very energetic guy. But what good about his intro was he used an example of his current employee who was a summer of tech intern from last year. He mentioned they offer the intern a job after 3 months, send her to HongKong for conference, gave her 2 pay rises and promotions and offer her stock options etc (I couldn’t believe it when I heard it), but if I was a student, I would like to work for him.

FNZ - Be Rememberable The Development Manager of FNZ introduced company and saying “FNZ doesn’t stand for anything” which brought laughters to the entire room. Although it’s debatable, but I am sure people would remember the company after the quick intro.

Southgate Labs - Creditability There were a lot of companies doing Rails in the Meet&Greet. While other companies merely using Rails, The co-founder of Southgate Labs, Michael Koziarski @nzkoz is one of the creators of Rails. You can’t top that, can you? If that was enough, @rowansimpson (trademe employee No. 3) and Amnon Ben-Or (former trademe creative lead) will definitely blow you away.

Unlimited Realities - Relate to the audience Unlimited Realities doing some tablet stuff which is pretty cool. But the founder is very good at relating himself to the audience. He mentioned that he was in the same seats 3 and half years ago, that immediately build a bridge between him and students. After all, people feel much more comfortable with people that are common to them.

Worknow - Leverage (whatever you have) The guy from Worknow wasn’t a great public speaker (sorry man). But what’s good about him was he knows how to leverage his resources. He mentioned that they are in the same office with Sounthgate Labs, working for them give students opportunities to “work” with NZ startup gurus. That’s smart.

"At the critical juncture […], when they should have gone for market share, they went for profits.” I..."

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:28:47 +1200

““At the critical juncture […], when they should have gone for market share, they went for profits.” I think this encapsulates Jobs’s philosophy since taking over Apple in 1997. Take the high end of the market first, establish a brand and presence, then steadily start to expand.”

- Daring Fireball

This is BEAUTIFUL. “Sometimes the most unlikely...

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:37:37 +1200

This is BEAUTIFUL. “Sometimes the most unlikely partnership is the most enduring”.

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:26:55 +1200

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

- Mahatma Gandhi (via The Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh)

First Ever Snowboarding Trip

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 20:39:13 +1200

One thing on my new year resolutions list for 2010 is to go to ski/snowboarding. I was lucky to have last Friday off so I flew down to Christchurch and went to one of the largest ski fields in the country, Mt Hutt.

Since I haven’t skied nor snowboarded in my life prior to this trip, I had this huge debate in my head about whether to ski or snowboard. Finally I concluded to do snowboarding which turned out to be a great decision.

I was extremely fortunate that @sundium took the day off work and accompanied me on the entire trip, and here is a photo he diligently putting snow chain on his car. I never went down south during winter, so hooking up a snow chain was interesting to me. and Sun was kind enough did it all by himself (or maybe he didn’t want me to damage his car, hah hah!)

it was way cooler than I’ve imagined and I was amazed by the mountains full of snow. I came from a city where the temperature reaches -30 degrees in winter, but last time me seeing this much snow (on a mountain) was don’t-remember how long ago

One thing I’ve learned at Mt Hutt was @Telecomnz XT network works way better than @Vodafonenz 3G, while Sun’s iPad has full signal strength, my iPhone4 only had 1 bar (don’t blame the Antenna issue, I didn’t hold it wrong). People at the reception were absolutely amazed by Sun’s iPad, “I’ve never seen such a thing before”, the girl said. For some reason, they only accept paper for online booking check-ins.

As much as Sun want to save a few trees, they won’t check us in without the paper booking refs. The girl realize Sun can send emails and offered him sending the booking info to an email account where the staff could print it off, very smart. And we are so glad that there are XT network reception.

It was a great day on Mt Hutt and I took a beginner lesson. Our instructor, Tim was patient and I am glad I took the lesson which helped in a great deal.

By the end of the first day, I was able to stand on snow with too feet strapped in, able to slide around the beginner slope, not bad for the first time.

I always know that not knowing of the names of native fauna and flora is gonna bite me in the ares someday, but I never thought this would be as embarrassing as this. I will let you watch this video to figure it out yourself. Yep, too embarrassing to say for myself.

The weather on the second day wasn’t great. Mt Hutt ski field was close due to the heavy wind. We end up going to the Porters. It was a much smaller ski field, but I like the intermediate slope that is a lot of steeper, it’s good as it forced me to learn faster.

The private lesson from Gunnar (a German instructor) helped me a lot, I definitely recommend anyone taking lessons especially if you are a first-timer.

Needless to say, the both days end up with lot’s of spectacular falls and bruise, but it’s totally worth it.

Last night in Christchurch, we stayed at Peppers Clearwater Resort, absolutely loved the lake.

Microsoft is Irrelevant by David Heinemeier Hansson @dhh

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 15:42:12 +1200

Microsoft is Irrelevant by David Heinemeier Hansson @dhh

Apple’s App Store is a “Warehouse of shit” by...

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 15:40:56 +1200

Apple’s App Store is a “Warehouse of shit” by David Heinemeier Hansson @DHH

The BA Kit Team at The BA Kit launch party @thebakit.

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 11:45:49 +1200

The BA Kit Team at The BA Kit launch party @thebakit.

I felt incredibly lucky

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:51:02 +1200

Hearing my 3 yo mumbling ”daddy, daddy…” at the door step after dropping her off at her kindy is one of the few heart-melting moments.

"When you walk with purpose, you collide with destiny."

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 17:43:51 +1200

“When you walk with purpose, you collide with destiny.”

- Bertice Berry references by Tony Hsieh in delivering happiness

"Absence makes heart grow fonder"

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 08:05:32 +1200

“Absence makes heart grow fonder”

- My Boss

iPhone 4 Antenna Song

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 16:21:59 +1200

iPhone 4 Antenna Song

Video

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:28:56 +1200