A lesson of courtesy

If you are learning from Professor Sheriff Luk, programme director at Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Graduate School of Business, be careful, don't show too much courtesy to him.

Quoting from Mainlanders blast retail service:
"Staff at retail outlets are always told to be courteous and smile at their customers, but this is just too artificial," Luk said. "Sometimes mainland tourists would like to be treated as ordinary customers. Being patronising could be another kind of discrimination."
More quotes from an article in Apple Daily (Chinese):
"他 促 請 從 業 員 招 呼 客 人 時 ， 應 以 真 誠 的 態 度 相 待 。"

Is he too naive or something? How much sincerity could you expect from a salesperson?

Maybe he enjoys the publicity from such idiotic comments but it does no good to the reputation of the school/program.

Google's true color?

If you read Chinese, please check out this page from Google news HK If you read carefully, you will notice most news sources quoted by Google are pro-Beijing.

Now, do you think you'll be able to get unbiased search results from Google?

To be honest, I don't like Google since they started Gmail. Privacy concern is one thing (See Gmail is too creepy) Extra-hyping Gmail by making it invitation only is another. (That's why I have declined several invitations to open a Gmail account) IMO this company is about hype more than anything. Their co-founders couldn't even get their fact straight during interview with Playboy! It seems like they enjoy the fame too much and too eager to cash in.

We don't give a **** about you

I thought this is the "philosophy" of the customer service of most companies (especially the consumer electronic manufacturers and phone companies.) They are always very eager to talk to you when you order/add new services but showed a different face when asked for service. Don't you realize your call gets answered immediately for the former but you are always on hold for the latter?

Well, finally there is a "honest" company. See Customer Service with a Twist

Transformania

Which boy growing up in the 80s did not love the cartoon Transformer? It has cars and airplanes that transform into robots! (Still wonder why airplanes are bad while cars are good) Check out Tranformers: A History and also Japanese Transformers Cartoons Guide(similar info in Chinese) (if you enjoyed the Japanese version like I did. My friend used to ask me why there are 2 different versions and how they are related back when I was in high school and I was totally clueless. With this FAQ, finally the mystery is solved!)


My favourite character is the leader of the good guys (Autobots): Optimus Prime
His archrival is, of course, the leader of the bad guys (Decepticons): Megatron

Apparently this cartoon still has a lot of followers. I guess a lot of them is from my generation. So what's the appeal of it? A reviewer at Amazon sums it up the best: got to relive the childhood favorite!

BTW, 2004 marks the 20th anniversary of Transformers (yeah, that shows my age >:)

CRM does too much and knows too much

Does too much? See Albertsons Learns the Legal Dangers of CRM It's about Albertson's CRM system sending out letters to the customers who previously filled prescription there.

Knows too much? See Retail CRM: Does Data Create A Duty? It's about whether a company (in this case, Kroger's) is liable to inform their customers about recall when it stores customers contact and purchase info in CRM.

Now you know how tough the enterprise application business is!

914

Tomorrow is the day to Save Betamax and your right to recording technology.

Don't let the movie industry dictate what technology you could and could not use!

While I'm at it, I recommend you all check out DownhillBattle.org It is an organization against the greedy money sucking monsters a.k.a. music industry.

First NFL game for all of us

Falcons at 49ers 

At 3Com Park 
If you know me, you know I am a huge football fan. Football is the #1 sport for this sport junkie!

Well, you might be surprised that I've never been to a NFL game until now. (First time for my wife and daughter too!) IMO Football is one of the sports that is better seen on TV than in person 'coz the closeup camera makes it much easier to follow the ball and the ball carrier. Not to mention the great invention of computer generated Yellow first-down line shown on the screen these days. (Just realized some channels are showing a dark blue line of scrimmage as well)

Nevertheless, this game has changed my view, literally speaking. Watching the game in person gives me a complete view of everythings happen on the field. This makes game much more enjoyable. (Hey, a Cowboy fan like me could even enjoy a 49er game. See them getting beaten by Falcons was icing on the cake! BTW, 49ers' offense really look awful in the first 50 mins of the game with no TD. We left after Falcons scored another TD that resulted from turnover and up by 15 pts. Niners scored 2 TD after that and made it a real close game! They should probably have paid us to leave earlier :P ) That said. I still won't trade channel flipping away. The tix are so expensive. Spending the money on the TV package seems to be a better investment.

Thanks to my wife for the tix.

Another "invention" by Microsoft

We all hate to listen to commercials on radio, right? (Well, except when you're an advertiser) You can now say goodbye to them, thanks to Microsoft's latest invention: MSN Radio.

Sounds like magic huh? Well, what it actually does is playing the songs from the playlist of other radio stations and thus "mimic the sound" of those stations. See Microsoft creates static over new radio feature

Ultimate TV Junkie

I actually don't watch that much TV but I do like the ability to watch my favorite program wherever I prefer. I have been streaming TV signal through my PC and internet for a long time (using Windows Media Encoder, free download from Micro$oft) The only problem I have is inability to switch channel.

The previous route I have researched is to get a device (e.g. Ocelot) that connects to a PC and is able to learn and transmit IR signal. Then use a software like Mister House to control the device through a web server. Such device is not cheap though.

Apparently I'm not the only person in the world who wants to do this. This guy has posted a cheaper solution Tivo Project 101 His solution is based on "learning" by converting IR into audio. Then play back the audio file through a device like Griffin Total Remote Transmitter Module to transmit the IR signal.

Jinx...

I hope this won't jinx Lefty: Report: Mickelson, Titleist part ways

Remember what happened to Tiger after he dumped Titleist for Nike! I know my next club won't be from Nike for sure...

Offoffshoring

Just when people are talking about US jobs offshore-outsourced to India, this pops up: Jobs Outsourced to Indian Firms May Not Go to India

Does this make you feel better? (or worse...)