Digital Fugue - Random Thots

Monkey Business

It's easier to have monkeys working for you rather than you working for monkeys.

Moving posts

I'm moving all FLYfm and Max-Airplay related posts to blog.fly.fm

Procedures

Procedures are meant to inculcate orderly manners in every process. In lay man's term, it means that procedures are suppose to make life easier for the average joe.

Unfortunately, that is not the case for most government agencies in Malaysia.
wankers...

PSP in my hands

Digital Fugue does the Ox.

Perhaps this is the reason for the long hiatus of the Fugue? Not really. Nevertheless, I was lucky enough to test out the Play Station Portable (PSP) this morning. Not quite a rigourous test but just a quick fix.

A friend of mine manage to get a package with one game just under RM1k. It was a Japanese model and the user manual is in Japanese. It would take quite a while to figure out the advance functionalities of the gadget.

The PSP rocks. It fits just nicely in your hands. The graphics are clear and crisp and the sound excellent. A definite 5/5 for product design! It is the sort of thing that would make you look forward to that long LRT ride back or that long drive back in a traffic jam.

I only had the chance to fiddle with it for about half an hour (which felt more like half a minute). I'd write a proper review if i had the chance to sleep with it over the weekend, but i don't think my friend would be too happy to part with his new baby. But the bottom line; it was preety impressive.

It could be useful if they include simple PIM functionalities like address book or calendar to it. It would definitely be a bomb if they include a cellphone module and perhaps a 1 mega pix camera in it... but that would be too much to ask right?

The only bummer is the limited games on the shelves and they're all original (with each game costing about RM 150 - RM 200). I would think twice before burning my hard earn cash.

I'd give it 3/5 for value for money. Well, if and when they have more (pirated) games on board, I might change the rating and get the PSP for myself. :p

Doing Business

There are many reasons why people set up their own companies and start doing business. Most would like to be their own boss. Others want to make money and more money. There are some who do it for fun, as a hobby... Some even want to build their own empire.

When I set up a company with a partner, i see that as an opportunity to make a little extra. The company did marginaly OK. Not too bad since i was not doing it full time. That was almost four years ago. Two years ago i embarked on another venture. Now, that venture is an investment holding company. We are still strugling whilst ironing out the inevitable problems faced by startups.

Our "investor" told us that we are here to make money. There should not be any emotional values attached to the business or the company. When the time comes, you might have to sell the company. I have to agree with that. If one could make more money out of that, why not?

The same goes for people who list their companies in the stock market. They might loose a portion of their share, but at the end of the day, you will happilly walk to the bank with a big fat wallet.

Then again, there are people who have the idea of build a legacy so that their children could own a piece of it and be part of it. It is a bold idea but you are limiting your children to your stream of business. What if the children want to embark on other career that might not have anything in common with the family business? Who will then take over?
Also family business, especially in asia, have this tendency to end up in family squabbles. After seeing the ugly side of family business, I would have second thoughts on letting my children inherit the business I built. Afterall one would have to work for success not inherit.

In business there are a lot of uncertainties and ironies. You could make tonnes of money building a successful business empire with your name splattered all over it. But the last thing you would want is that entity coming back to haunt you. Scary indeed.

Managing people

In management, they say the hardest bit is managing humans. The art of People Management. I was once in a big corporation and had the priviledge to be placed in different divisions.

Threading on the corporate chessboard, one can see the different traits within different levels in an organization. The traits are visible not only for the horizontal services, but on the vertical divisions as well.

Try sorting out the senior management with their internal political game, the vertical divisions and middle management trying to align to the most favourable chief (ie. who to suck up to) and the non execs (and their union) with their dissatisfaction about everything that have to do with the office.

I thought that was tough... util i had the chance to manage a bunch of right brained creative people. Now that is tough.

Success

A wise successful old man told me once, in order to be successful, you need to be at the right place at the right time with the right people.

I believe I am at the right place with the right people. I dont think the time is just as right as the other two. It is like being in a race. I'm already on the starting line at the right stadium, with the best coach, sponsors and supporters. But the problem is, I dont know when the race is starting!

Life can be... frustrating in that sense. C'est la vie.

Tsunami of Thots

My thoughts and condolences to those who were affested by the tsunami disaster.

On that lazy sunday afternoon, I received an SMS from a friend who was in Penang. It simply says "Sudden high tide hit penang. Beach flooded". I ignored the message thinking it was one of those end of the year torrential storm. Only later in the afternoon when I switched on the cable TV I realized what actualy happened. I tried calling my friend but the line was congested... even sms sent was not replied.

The end of '04

First and foremost, I would like to apologize for the lack of updates over the months. The last six months have been very interesting with too many events cramped in such limited time span. It is like seeing your life flash before your very eyes. The experience and knowledge I gain from the last six months were tremendous.

I sit and ponder upon the chain of events that happened and how those events affect the lives of people around me. Had one event fail to materialize, the outcome would be totally different... It could be for the better... or worst... all could change as easy as a flip of a penny. Six month ago, I would not have imagine myself as I am now... and not to mention where I am heading to at this very cross-junction of time.

From the plans that we have drawn out there are lot more things to explore and experience. We went against the grain and manage to elevate ourselves from zero to a platform that was accessible only to the big players. No doubt, we have ruffled some feathers in the playing field. Who knows, we might have created enemies along the way. Then again one might ask what would you do if all your enemies are friends...? what would you do?

The end of the year is near... it is a time for reflection. We should not look at the end of the year as it is but in fact we should take it as the beginning of a new year.

People ask about resolutions... what happened to last years resolutions and what are next year's resolutions. To me it doesn't matter. Resolutions evolve as time elapse. We should mould our resolutions to fit the situation and time. I can't wait to see what next year have in store for us.

Leech

So here I am, sitting alone on my balcony at two o'clock in the morning. Leeching someone's unprotected wifi connection. :)