Get what you pay for

No plans for PS3 price drop, says Sony.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3173503

If this is true, then kudos to Sony for sticking to their plan. I'm not a "fan" of either the PS3 or 360, but I feel that the PS3 is definitely built at a higher quality. For starters, it is quiet compared to the jet engine-esque noise the 360 makes when the disc drive is spinning. The 360 has been found to have fatal errors (just google Red Ring of Death) that are covered by the warranty. When the warranty is up, you're on your own. You can tell that Microsoft did a lot of cost saving even before this console hit stores. On the other hand, the PS3 is a console for adults, and it comes with an adult price (USD499-599).

You have to hand it to Microsoft for devising a business plan that was purposely designed to defeat the PS3. They knew Sony's gameplan and made a cheap machine with a lower price point to initially sell more units. Brilliant plan really, since the money is made from games. With more consoles in more households, the likelihood of someone choosing a 360 game over a PS3 game is high. PS3 in turn can play Blu-Ray DVDs. This will boost their unit sales, but will it make Blu-Ray DVD users buy more games?

No Tube for You

YouTube blocked in China? It was only a matter of time. Am I surprised this happened after promises of a more "open" internet? No. China makes few promises, and has a problem with keeping them. Lies and contradictions are common place. Its these contradictions and lack of clarity that drove away the faith I had in this country years ago. Not that I don't have well wishes for China. I really want to see China do well, but not in the way that most people consider to be "well". Responding to the YouTube blockage, China had this to say:

"Many people have a false impression that the Chinese government fears the Internet. In fact it is just the opposite," the official, Qin Gang, explains. "China's Internet is open enough, but also needs to be regulated by law in order to prevent the spread of harmful information and for national security."

Another "Chinaism", another disappointment.

(Read more here)

Real Crooks

Who are the real thieves? Bernard Madoff admitted his crimes. He was a nasty con artist, but at least he is finally owning up to his deeds.

On the contrary, these stubborn finance folk have seriously lost their way. They are stubborn to a point that outsiders simply cannot understand. A bonus should be a reward for a job well done. So even under normal circumstances, the bankers that caused this economic turmoil, have failed in their profession. Hence, they should not receive a bonus. It is simple logic: fail = no bonus. Compound that with the current situation, where taxpayer dollars were used to save the company and their jobs. Should that money be used to give out a reward for a job not done?

Some argue that the bankers are the only ones who can get us out of this mess, and because of that they should be treated well. That sounds almost as if the finance industry is now holding the world hostage. If we don't pony up a juicy bonus for them, they'll throw the economy into further turmoil.

This makes no sense. The real thieves of America have shown their faces, and people certainly have the right to be mad about it.

No to free publicity?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7933565.stm

Why does YouTube have to pay artists to post music videos? Can someone explain this to me? I guess there must be a reason. I'm all for artists getting paid, but isn't having your MV on YouTube the equivilant of free advertising? Artists and record companies should be thankful there's a medium such as YouTube to freely spread their product.

Since when did people start saying no to free advertising?

Build Quality

The stuff we buy just keeps getting worse.

I finally upgraded to a wireless keyboard and mouse at work. I chose this Microsoft combo because it was reasonably priced. I like Logitech's wireless stuff better, but I already had a set of that at home, and didn't want to spend anymore money.

I guess you really get what you pay for. This Microsoft set sucks. They keyboard is mediocre, but not really much worse than your average everyday keyboard. The mouse is really bottom of the barrel though in terms of quality. The optical mouse works on very few surfaces. It doesn't work on the mouse pad that I got for free from the store which I made this purchase, and it doesn't work on the old mouse pad that I was using. It only works if I put it directly on my desk. The battery life sucks compared to my Logitech wireless optical mouse at home, despite it turning itself off every couple minutes to save power.

Right now, I'm recharging the two AA batteries for the mouse, so I have reverted back to the trusty old Microsoft optical wired mouse I've been using for the past eight years. It is better in many respects. Not only does it feel better in your hand, the buttons have a better build quality, and it works on almost any surface. I don't understand how technology can move backwards, but apparently, that's what's happening to Microsoft.

From now on, I'm sticking with Logitech.

Cleaning up (one of) Bush's mess

Sometimes you there are things that simply make no sense. USD480,000,000 for a helicopter in this economy, and it takes a new President to put a stop to it.

Yes, money needed to be spent after 9/11, but this is beyond ridiculous. Radar jammer, OK. Shielding for electronic equipment (against an electromagnetic pulse), OK. Toilet and kitchen?! Uh... NO!

Americans living in excess brought them to where they are today. You'd like to imagine the government being smarter than that. Then you remember who ran the government in the past eight years and it all makes sense (or no sense).

The Death of Comedy

When was the last time you saw a quality comedy film come out from Hong Kong? The last funny film I saw from Hong Kong was Stephen Chow's Kung Fu. The Comedy is dead in Hong Kong.

Why you ask? There are little to no comedic actors left in the business. Film producers are not willing to take risks with new styles of comedy. Staying conservative, they stick with slapstick and mindless humor with actors who are actually singers by trade. The industry dictated this change, not the audience. I'll bet the Hong Kong audience is dying to see a serious, high quality comedy. Entertainment firms just aren't willing to take any risk. Instead, they come out with stuff that has worked in the past, shunning anything new or experimental.

Perhaps its the Hong Kong market that caused this situation. The market is too small, so in order for movies to make a profit, they have to be able to do well in China as well. Greedy firms may not see the value in producing a film only for Hong Kong, even if it does pay for itself. Touchy comedic material might be censored or unaccepted in China. Pirated DVDs are no help. Also, consumers (wrong as they are) will go for the pirated version, as they aren't willing to spend a lot of money on the current, rehashed, run of the mill comedies being produced today.

The vicious cycle continues, and thus brings forth the death of the comedy in Hong Kong cinema.

2 Legit 2 Quit!

I never thought I would blog about fashion, but this is too funny. MC Hammer's parachute pants are back! Fashion designers are shamelessly bringing back the old design and giving it a posh name: "Harem Pants".

I'm no fashion guru, and most pioneering fashionistas would call my style boring and conservative. All I'm saying is that I would have trouble dating a girl who wore harem pants, and I would try my best to not associate with people who wore these pants in public.

On the other hand they look pretty comfortable, so perhaps they'd make great pyjamas (or adult diaper concealers).

Funny Friday

Last Straw?

HSBC... again.

There are a lot more important things to blog about. Plenty going on in China (which I will get to), and certainly plenty of crap going on with our own HKSAR government (which is a bit too depressing to get to). But I'm going to blog about HSBC's credit card program.

Is HSBC's credit card offering horrendous? Not really. So far, they haven't done anything wrong per se. They have just sucked for the five plus years I've been in the program. The rewards sucked. It is mostly crap, and the quality has gotten worse over the years. They started off with Japanese brands, then they switched to Chinese brands. Now they're offering what's called "flexi-rewards", which in theory allows you to redeem a 50 inch HDMI television for 7 million + points. That might actually be plausible if the points didn't expire so quickly. Spend HKD7,000,000 and get a HKD20,000 television for free! Ha! You'd imagine they might give you something better than a 0.29% return for spending a cool mil (US dollars) with their card, but no.

The reason I thought of the good old money grubber, is that they've been pestering me recently (twice per month since August, by phone and by mail) to upgrade to their platinum card. For joining, I'll immediately get 10,000 crappy HSBC reward points, plus have the first year annual fee (about HKD1,000) waived (which would have happened regardless, with the amount I spend with the card). By spending another HKD15,000 (within three months) I can get 40,000 more crappy points given within the next five months.

I decided to give them a legitimate chance and checked what perks the card has to offer. The offers were quite disappointing. There are various discounts here and there, and a perk or two that look somewhat appealing. However, most come with a catch. For example:

15% off on food (not drinks) at H One. Seems like a decent deal, but then you see that it only applies if you spend HKD800 per person. It also does not apply to the set lunch menu from Monday to Friday.

$800 per person is quite a lot, and that doesn't include booze...

Some offers don't make much sense: 10% off the a la carte menu at Fook Lam Moon Restaurant. Not applicable to fruits, beverages, set menus, valet parking or service charge. Again, the restrictions. But what makes the least amount of sense is in the deal itself. People who dine at Fook Lam Moon would not give a rat's ass about a meager 10% discount.

Overall, these ho-hum 10-15% food only discounts make me want to just use another card and get airline miles instead. Which brings us to our next topic.

I thought of enrolling in HSBC's Asia Miles mileage reward program, only to discover that the reward ratio is HKD15 spending for one mile. That is pretty lame. HSBC also requires an additional enrollment annual fee of HKD150. Booooo...

So what might perhaps be the last straw? HSBC announced that in April 2009, bill payment with the classic and gold credit cards will not count towards reward points. Is it a big deal? It will be if you pay your bills with the card. The point is that they're slowly chipping away at the benefits that may have attracted customers to join in the first place. I am just annoyed at the consistent lame-ass marketing efforts they throw at me. I mean... I'll sign up for the platinum card. Just give me something more substantial, like a free phone or a couple bottles of wine.

Fallen Hero

廣東作家陳啟棠協助農民維權被秘密判刑

2009-01-05
曾協助南海山三鎮失地農民維權的廣東網絡作家陳啟棠，被關押一年多後遭秘密判刑兩年半。家人質疑審訊不公平。維權人士則批評中國政府以言入罪。（張麗明報道）

陳啟棠的妻子張月清向本台粵語組表示，她本周日致電法官，才得悉法院已於上周三開庭宣判，判處陳啓棠入獄兩年半。她仍未收到判決書，不能確定他被定罪是否被捕時所指控的招搖撞騙罪。她批評法院沒有通知家屬開審和宣判日期，令她失去與丈夫見面的機會，亦無法確定審訊過程是否公正。她說：我們一直都不知道。第一次開庭我已問他為甚麼不通知我們，他說他是成年人，不用通知家屬。他犯了甚麼大罪，可以不通知？

陳啟棠是於前年十月下班回家途中被公安人員帶走了，至今已被關押十四個多月。張月清說，在這一年多裡，家人一直無法與陳啟棠見面，完全不知道他在獄中待遇。家人原本聘請了律師為他辯護，卻收到陳啟棠的信件，表示他會自辯，毋須聘請律師。

張月清指，當局只允許陳啟棠寫信給家人，但信件都被監控，所以陳啟棠是否受到壓力才拒絕聘請律師，家人無從得知。她說：信是他寫的，但他是否受到壓力，我們不知道。寫信也只是家信，若談及案件或獄中情況，根本不能寄出。

張月清說，法官表示陳啟棠可於十天內提出上訴，若陳啟棠不提上訴，家人最快可於本周末安排與陳啟棠見面。她非常擔心丈夫的情況，呼籲國際社會關注，迫使中國政府儘快釋放他。

一直關注陳啟棠情況的廣東作家廖祖笙指責廣東當局，純粹因為陳啟棠發表文章和協助南海三山鎮失地農民維權而把他判刑。他說：肯定跟他寫的文章有一定關係。現在是暗無天日的時代，甚麼事情都可以發生。

陳啟棠是廣東佛山人，以筆名“天理”在網上發表文章，議論時政。前年三月，他和多名維權人士，包括郭飛雄和郭永豐等人，創辦《維權聯盟》，發放中國各地維權信息，協助公民維權。被捕前，他正積極關注佛山南海三山鎮失地農民維權情況，多名農民代表遭判刑，其中一人更在囚禁期間死亡。

本台周一曾致電佛山市中級法院和佛山市看守所，希望查詢陳啟棠的情況，但電話均沒有人接聽。

As Hong Kong stepped into the new year peacefully, more injustice took place in the Mainland.

On December 31st, activist Chen Qitang (陳啟棠) was secretly sentenced to two and a half years in prison on charges of impersonation and fraud. Chen is an internet writer in the Guangdong province, who was helping villagers in Foshan City resist land grabs. The charges made against him were likely falsified, as he angered developers and corrupt government officials for aiding the helpless peasants obtain justice.

When will this stop? With the internet and more brazen reporters, the whole world can see these injustices taking place. Does this incident only look funny to foreigners? Does the Central Government not see what's going on here? This is not petty crime. Chen's imprisonment stemmed from developers stealing plots of land from villagers to build multi million dollar structures. When will China decide that it has had enough of being the butt end of corruption jokes? Jokes aside, real people are suffering here. When they try to speak out, they are bullied and punished.

Again, China gets no respect from me until this blatant theft and injustice is put to a stop.

F**k Artisan Water

Madness is... a HKD80 (USD10) bottle of water.

Apparently, that's what some restaurants are charging these days for bottled water. Not only do they charge an outrageous price, but they damn near force you to order it.  If you want water, you have to order the silly artisan bottled water. Otherwise, you're just going to have to go thirsty while eating that meal.  What happened to the days when water was free at restaurants?  

I'm a drinker.  I'll have beer with my pizza and wine with my steak, and I'll pay for it.  But I absolutely hate having to pay for ridiculously expensive water that comes in an environmentally unfriendly bottle.  It is stupid.  I feel like I'm being cheated.  The water costs HKD10 in the store, so they're making a profit of HKD70. That is seven times the retail cost.  

Sabatini's in the Royal Garden Hotel has the right idea.  They serve bottled water, but it is included in the meal.  Now that is service, and service that I will gladly pay more for.  

Cheapo

Even when it comes to charity, HSBC is a cheap bastard.  

In an attempt to offload some of my HSBC credit card bonus points, I chose to donate them to the Community Chest. Then I found out that you need 25,000 points to donate HKD100! That's a 0.4% return since one dollar spending equals one point.  Normally I would accept this if it were a cash back return scheme, but this is a donation.  I expect the bank to be willing to give a little more when it comes to charity. Oh well, I guess I'm just more naive than I'd like to think.

Countdown Continues

Nearly two years ago I foolishly discovered that most restaurant bars did not ban smoking because they were able to claim "bar status".  Banning restaurant smoking in 2007 was a great leap for Hong Kong, but bars were still off the hook for another two years. Since then, I have been silently counting down the days until January 1st 2009, when smoking will be banned in bars as well.

Only 23 more days left until the full ban comes into effect.

Sadly, not every establishment will adhere to the new policy.

• "Upstairs Bars" will ignore the ban the best they can by instructing customers to smoke in stairwells (already illegal), or they may ignore them completely by continuing to allow customers to smoke.  
  


• Smaller, less prominent bars on the ground level may try to ignore the ban as well. Their success will depend entirely on A. The bar's popularity, and B. Whether anyone files a complaint. If a bar is popular, there will be more people filing complaints, forcing the bar to follow the rules.  
  


• Karaokes should have banned smoking since 07, but it appears that they are ignoring the law. They aren't saying it is okay to smoke, but they aren't doing anything to prevent it either.  They're basically turning a blind eye, and providing makeshift ashtrays when requested.
  


• As for massage parlours (where smoking is still allowed until 09), I have no idea what they will do.  They are also usually located "upstairs", and it will be difficult to enforce a smoking ban just like the "Upstairs Bars".
  

It appears that not many people are all that interested in fixing these problems. Government officials feel that it isn't their problem.  The Tobacco Control Office doesn't have the manpower or incentive to enforce the new legislation.  Owners of bars and clubs fear that banning smoking will turn away customers.  Non-smokers have either stopped going to these places (like me), or pretend it doesn't bother them.

So how can we finally make Hong Kong smoke free? Here are some ideas.  Increase the manpower of the Tobacco Control Office, and give them an incentive to hand out fines. Make it a quota system where the more fines they hand out, the more salary they will receive.  Have them work in tandem with the police.  Make the smoking fines a larger amount to cover the cost of TCO officer bonuses.

When you raid enough karaokes, bars, and clubs, people will learn not to smoke there and eventually become accustomed to it.  People putting out their butts before TCO guys can hand out tickets?  Have officers pose as party goers, and conduct random raids.  Don't tell me this can't be done.  The Department of Health did the exact same covert type operations when the order came down to clean up littering in Hong Kong.

If you're going to make such a drastic rule change, you have to come down hard in the beginning. Does the government want to give the people another reason to call it weak?  Nobody said this task would be easy, but it it nothing new.  Many other cities have banned smoking already, Hong Kong has no excuse not to.

This is the world we live in

Having made HKD1 billion in profit last year (and 500 million for the first half of this year), TVB decided to layoff 212 employees in this time of turmoil.  Their reason is that they must be responsible to their shareholders.  

TVB's decision probably makes sense on paper. With publicly listed entities, the shareholder is king.  I guess I could sympathize with the layoffs if TVB was barely breaking even, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  I just want to know when enough is enough.  

I certainly have no right to judge TVB's decision.  Perhaps they are planning for the gloomy outlook in upcoming years.  Only they can project how much revenue next year will bring.  

The TVB layoffs have brought to attention the subject of shareholder responsibility vs. social responsibility.  Naturally, to stay attractive and keep investors coming, TVB wants to show shareholders that in times of turmoil, they know how to make the tough, unpopular decisions to keep that profit margin.  Strictly business minded people will applaud this, stating that it keeps Hong Kong investment opportunities attractive.  

On the other hand, where does it end?  Shareholders are not the only ones fighting their way through a bad economy.  The ones at the bottom of the ladder always suffer the most.  When does a company put a hold on the profit margin, and decide to take care of their own people?  I'm sure corporations understand what they are doing when they put people out in the cold in this economy.  They have just never experienced it themselves.  

No one is saying that we should tell TVB (or any other company) how to run their business.  I'd like to ask, do investors only care about profit?  If that were the case, nobody would care about child labor, poor working conditions, and minimum wage.  If profit was the sole purpose of investing in a company, these issues wouldn't even be discussion topics.  Can corporations look past the money and see the significance of social responsibility?  Can investors do the same? People don't like the words "social responsibility".  How about just calling it "taking care of your own", or "living through the thin as well as the thick".  There will always be money to be made, but at what expense?  

Furthermore, is TVB's reputation in the public eye at all important?  Make an unpopular move, and there could be consequences (though likely minor consquences).  

Personally, I would much rather put my money in a company that took care of society as well as their investors.  A company that blindly cares about profit (especially in times like these) is not a company I would support.    

New Style of Corruption: The Puppet

扮港商也可騙得十七億元？
24.11.2008 潘小濤

有一宗跟香港有少許關係的國內法庭新聞，看過後讓人難以置信。

主角是只讀了小學的湖北木匠王細牛。不過，這位中年漢，卻憑著一間在香港註冊、登記資本只得一萬元的空殼公司，短短四年間，在國內商場翻雲覆雨，賺了十七億元，還包了六個「二奶」。難道中國真的遍地黃金？

這位假港商的賺錢秘訣，只得一個字，就是「騙」。更奇怪的是，他的謊言其實破綻百出，卻屢試不爽。法庭透露，二ＯＯ一年，王細牛得知寧夏自治區政府準備改造寧夏賓館，於是承諾出資4.56億元，並與區政府簽訂了投資合同。然後，他以扣押招標保證金、騙取銀行貸款及工程材料等，拿到五億，再以高息來公開集資，又獲得三點二億。僅在寧夏，他已得到逾八億元。

問題是，他是如何得知寧夏區政府要改建寧夏賓館呢？是誰給他信息，又是哪個官員決定與他簽定合同呢？法庭沒有說。

之後，王細牛轉戰內蒙古，聲稱要在內蒙首府呼和浩特市的建成「西北第一高樓」，樓高169米，投資額達53億元。當地市政府高度重視，列為07年內蒙古自治區成立60周年獻禮工程。為保證工程進度，剛建成四年的公安局大樓，還有市政府大樓、龍海商廈、第一人民醫院保健樓、公安局三棟宿舍樓等全被炸掉，讓路給此「西北第一高樓」。然而，王細牛的公司自始至終都沒有出資，那個所謂「西北第一高樓」很快成了爛攤子，甚至涉嫌非法集資。到這時內蒙古警方才開始調查王細牛。當時，他已得到各種貸款及集資逾九億元。

更甚者，他用了六個假名登記了張身份證，然後成立了六間空殼公司，並且用每個假名娶了一個老婆。

聽完這個故事，大家是否滿腹疑團，為甚麼這樣一個木匠，能令那麼多大官上當受騙？他騙回來的錢，究竟流向何處。我就懷疑，他是否只是木偶公仔，背後有官方背景的人控制他，否則不可能獲得那麼多政府工程的消息，而那些地方諸侯也不會那麼信任他！看國內的新聞，即使是法庭已判了案的新聞，也不能全信官方的版本呀!

It appears that corrupt Chinese politicians have found a new way to steal from the people. They've gotten smart. Instead of strong-arming the funds and concealing the crime with their authority, they employ a "puppet" to do their dirty deeds. When this puppet gets caught, they are free of any blame.

This case in point involves a middle carpenter with only an elementary school level education. This man, Wang Xiniu, managed to open a shell company in Hong Kong and proceed to con investors into giving him a grand total of RMB 1.7 billion within the very short span of four years. Through forged documents, he has six identities, and six wives to match.

Wang's building investment proposals were obviously flawed, yet they somehow got approved. How did this happen? How did an uneducated carpenter orchestrate such an elaborate plan and actually succeed in its execution? Wang has now been caught and been proven guilty in a court of law. However, no details behind his actions have been disclosed, and the whereabouts of the 1.7 billion yuan is still unknown.

One can only come to the conclusion that there is a higher power behind the scenes. The men behind the man are likely corrupt Chinese government officials. Only they would have the power to push for the approval of such shoddy construction proposals, and only they have the ability to prevent the courts from probing any further into the people behind Wang Xiniu. Meanwhile, Wang, who began as their puppet, is now their deliberate scapegoat. They knew that his ruse was built on sand and was destined to be uncovered. Now Wang takes all the blame, and the people's money will never been seen again.

Bling It!

Click here for the tech stuff.  Tests have shown that Chrome is twice as fast as Firefox, and it appears to be the fastest browser available.  Has mighty Google done it again?  The browser feels great.  It has nearly everything Firefox 3 has.  It doesn't "hang" occasionally like FF does, and it is a lot faster (at least it feels that way since I haven't timed it myself).  Perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised that Google appears to be dominating another facet of my web experience.  The Google search engine, Gmail, Maps, Google Chat, Blogger, Reader, Picasa, and even YouTube, all suit my web lifestyle just right.  Minimalist, utilitarian, unobtrusive, efficient, are words I'd use to describe Google's most basic products.  They are taking over the world and perhaps they deserve to.  

Weak Sauce

Why is our government so weak?! Every time the public or the media asks our government to make a decision or solve an issue, all we get is a wishy-washy non-answer.  As the article notes, our useless government always comes back with a non-answer like, "that is a hypothetical question", or ignoring the problem all together with, "there is no problem there", or yet another non-answer like, "the government has the ability to solve any problems that may arise".   

Macau is not a mirror image of Hong Kong, but being another SAR of China, it is the only place to compare us to.  The Macau government is not perfect.  Yet how come they can come up with solid answers and our government cannot?  We've even had a two year head start in terms of SAR experience.

I hate our government. I hate them for their style of corruption, and their lack of a spine.

We Have Arrived!

Big-O's checklist on who to thank:

1. Family
2. Supporters
3. The People

...for obvious reasons.

4. George W. Bush

...if he didn't do such a craptastic job in the last four years, Obama wouldn't have won so convincingly.


Hooray!

Not Just Racing Buckets

Premier racing bucket and OEM car seat maker, Recaro, has seemingly snuck into the airline seat business.

In the past, airline seats had no visible branding. You assumed they were Airbus brand or Boeing brand seats. Now you can see the Recaro brand clearly labeled on the seats in certain Airbus planes. It is kind of like Prada putting their name on an LG phone, or Bose putting their stereos in Audi cars.

Overall, it's refreshing to see professional travel seat makers making seats for airplanes. So what's next? Herman Milliar designed seats in first class? Would be a great selling point if you ask me.