By derek on March 9, 2008
Beijing’s Giant Airport Terminal To Open – BusinessWeek.com
…the $3.75 billion terminal occupies nearly 14 million square feet and will accommodate some 50 million passengers annually by 2020. And it was completed in less than four years—an astonishing feat considering the decades spent on frustrated expansion projects of much narrower scope at airports such as London’s Heathrow.
I moved to Beijing in 1995 and lived there until 2001. I went back to visit in 2005 and it was already very different than the place that I grew up in. Hearing others that have gone back more recently, it sounds like the city is almost unrecognizable after all the Olympic construction projects. Here’s a picture of the new CCTV (Chinese television) that looks like it’s about to fall over!
My business partner and good friend Jason Barber has blogged about a couple of crazy building projects that the Chinese have begun. You should check them out!
Another ridiculously massive Chinese building project
Rebuilding something only the Chinese could/would try
Posted in China
By derek on March 9, 2008
Mozilla VP talks IE 8, Firefox 3
Here’s a good article on News.com about Internet Explorer 8.0 becoming more standards compliant. We are doing multiple web development projects now, from a Seatability website redesign to a completely different ecommerce venture, and this is really giving us fits. We’ve got designs that look great in all standards based browsers, but pulling them up in IE makes it look like someone vomited on the web page, with formatting all messed up and major elements not even visible. We’re going to have to hire someone to come in after the fact to do whatever hacking is necessary to make our sites work in all browsers. I applaud any and all efforts to embrace web standards!
As for myself however, I used to be a staunch IE supporter, going all the way back to 3.0, but the long delays leading to 7.0 and tabbed browsing put me right in the Firefox camp, and I don’t know if there is anything the boys at Redmond can do to win me back.
Posted in Technology
By derek on March 8, 2008
I’ve been using Carbonite for a couple years and it is probably the greatest program anyone could ever put on their computer. It runs all the time, but doesn’t make your computer run slow at all. Whenever you add or edit a file, Carbonite will automatically back it up online. It uploads files anytime that you aren’t busy using your computer or your internet connection. The end result is that you always have an up to date backup stored remotely.
What inspired this post however is the miraculous restoration of all the data on my stolen laptop. What normally would have been a catastrophic loss turned into nothing major. Normally I would be dead if my computer was stolen and all my files were lost, but I was able to boot up my other computer and immediately download all my files from my stolen laptop. I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to open up the backup and see that everything I needed was still there.
For only $5 a month, it’s one of the most worthwhile expenses I have. Just think of all the times that you have lost a single document, whether it was a school paper or a business presentation that you accidentally deleted hours before you needed it. Now think about how much you would have paid to get that one single file back. Multiply that number times 100 or more and you’ll know how great it felt to get all my files back. I can’t recommend Carbonite enough.
(Disclaimer: I signed up as a Carbonite affiliate before posting this, but I was going to make this post anyway)
Posted in Rants, Technology
By derek on March 8, 2008
I found out this week after following up with our insurance brokers 3-4 times that theft apparently isn’t a part of our coverage. Supposedly we have a ‘all-inclusive’ policy, but they forgot to mention that everything of value is not covered due to exclusions buried in the 40 page document. I have a very bad taste in my mouth now towards our insurance broker and the underwriter. I feel like they are just taking our money and backing out of responsibility by hiding behind layers of paperwork and undecipherable legalese. I wish that insurance wasn’t such a necessary evil.
Posted in Rants
By derek on February 23, 2008
I had my laptop and cell phone stolen today. My office was deadbolted, but our cheap upstairs door to the roof was no match for the thieves. They brought a crowbar and pretty easily broke through the door and forced their way in. Luckily, we had our server out of the office for repair, otherwise we would have been in serious trouble if it had been stolen.
The bizarre thing about the whole situation was that they didn’t take any more of our computer equipment. They stole a lot of computers from our neighbors, and they actually unplugged one of our computers and put the monitor on the ground, but didn’t end up taking it. They just took my laptop, plus two cell phones without their chargers. All in all, we got very lucky, but it is still a bummer to have to deal with a stolen laptop. I’m not sure what our insurance policy is, and whether or not with the deductible it will be worth it to even try and deal with.
We got broken into last summer too, but that time they only got into our basement. Both times they threw a bunch of stuff around and made a general mess. The police think that it was the friends of the tattoo parlor next door. Hopefully they can track down the stuff.
I just wish that they’d tear down the building next door because it attracts the worst crowds. It’s been a drug house, and the police have thrown out miscreants multiple times over the past couple years. The owner won’t sell the building, but he won’t maintain it either. It’s frustrating that his lack of attention is costing so many thousands of dollars of damage to the surrounding tenants, yet he doesn’t have to pay for any of it. I just hope that his building is condemned by the city so we can be free. ![]()
Posted in Personal, Rants
By derek on February 23, 2008
This has to be one of the coolest chairs I have ever seen. The kid that invented it is from Taiwan. His father owns a factory that manufactures and uses this honeycomb cardboard technology for other things, including pallets. Thanks to the official Seatability blog at www.bungee-chair.com for the link.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkEDDj7TTHE[/youtube]
Posted in Furniture, Random Links
By derek on February 23, 2008
Founding Presidents – BusinessWeek
These U.S. presidents didn’t just run the country; they founded and operated businesses.
I just read this article on BusinessWeek and it really sat well with me. So many politicians have no idea what it means to run a business and keep it on budget. They’re used to their fancy cars, bodyguards and high-minded ideas that they have lost touch with the lifeblood of America. Why has the United States sat atop the world scene for so long? Not because career politicians have dealt with global warming, but because US businesses have kept the economy vibrant and innovative.
We’re in enormous debt, Social Security that eats me and my business alive is going to be worthless to me in the future, and the government just seems to be wasting my money on frivolous earmarks, programs and worthless agencies. A young business owner like myself should be very interested in how the leadership of our country plans out the rest of my life, but I cynically just can’t believe that any of the presidential candidates is going to make a difference. The only way to make me believe in politics again would be for someone to actually cut the fat out of the huge bureaucracy and do things for the good of the country, not the good of panderers and lobbyists.
I had hoped that Mitt Romney might be that president, with his background in turning around businesses, the Olympics and Massachusetts. Sadly, the race didn’t work out that way, but until someone can actually make real changes, I’ll continue to be a cynical political spectator. Get rid of these career politicians who don’t have an idea what the real world is like, and replace them with people who have lived, fought and worked 100 hour weeks to make payroll and meet investor expectations.
Posted in Politics, Rants
By derek on February 23, 2008
Hopefully this blogging fad doesn’t flame out as quickly as my last one. I find plenty of cool things to share and more than my fair share of opinions, but I just need to get into the habit. Wish me luck! Your comments will help keep me motivated.
Posted in Blogs
By derek on February 22, 2008
Though I’m not a Mac user, there is some awesome software that a good friend of mine just released a massive update for. I have a tough time getting information out to my customers, and this may be the only software that makes me actually wish I had a Mac (did I just publicly say that?). If you have a Mac and any need to do email marketing, DirectMail 2.0 from ethreesoftware will take you to the next level. Probably the coolest feature is the map overlay, that lets you see a live map of who has opened your mailing. Check it out today!
Posted in Technology
By derek on March 6, 2007
Luckily, my geek roots are going to help me keep my job.
CEOs Must Know IT–Or Else
A massive study links effective leadership with corporate projects driven by advancement in information technology. However, some doubt whether the current generation of CEOs is able to adapt, able to get their heads around IT. For those who don’t the message is clear. BT Global Services CEO Andy Green said: “If CEOs don’t understand, someone else will come along and eat their lunch. CEOs have to be prepared to learn.”
Key CEO issues:
- how to create long-term transformational value rather than implementation of one-off IT projects
- the need to build capability for ongoing change so that IT shapes new business models instead of being the business model
- how to establish a climate of open communication so that employees understand what is expected of them and stakeholders know what to expect
- the need to manage risk with confidence
- reorganising the need for personal IT capability and learning about new IT issues so that IT change is driven from the top down
Posted in Business, Management, Technology
