Malaysian based in Japan meets manga enthusiasts on last day of vacation
KUALA LUMPUR: Popular Japan-based Malaysian blogger Danny Choo spent the last day of his vacation in the country to meet and greet fans who had gathered for a chance to get his autograph and pose for pictures.
He spent over four hours to meet the 100 over fans at the Lot 10 shopping complex yesterday evening. Choo whose family is from Penang, was back in Malaysia for the first time in 10 years. He also exchanged name cards with them.
“It's the first time I've had har mien (prawn noodles) in over 10 years,” he said about his vacation in Malaysia.
Manga prince: Choo showing some of his collectibles after meeting his fans at Lot 10 shopping complex Sunday. - AZMAN GHANI / The Star
Born and raised in London, Choo made a name for himself writing about Japanese culture and anime/manga on his blog dannychoo.com, which has been featured by both the BBC and CNN.
CNN reported in 2008 that his blog received around 20 million visitors a month. Despite the large turnout yesterday, Choo made an effort to talk with each of his fans personally.
“For me it's very important to meet every one. I like to bring people together, so that even when I'm not around, they can network with each other. I want my readers to have more opportunities in sharing subjects that we are all passionate about,” he said.
Several fans, whom Choo referred to as “comrades”, showed figurines and collectibles to Choo, who also blogs about his own collection of anime figurines.
Although he had not visited the country in a decade, Choo said Malaysia, Penang in particular, still felt very much like home.
“I only had a day trip to Penang yesterday, but I wanted to spend more time there. So, next summer, I'll be spending some more time in Penang to go to Gurney Drive, walk around Komtar and so on,” he added.
Choo, who is the son of internationally-renowned shoe designer Datuk Jimmy Choo, is also a motivational speaker, writer and chief executive officer of web development company Mirai Inc.
When Google launched Buzz, a microblogging social network, several months ago, the company boasted that the network had been generated automatically, by algorithms that could connect users to each other based on communications revealed through Gmail and other services.
Linked in: Researchers from Yahoo examined e-mails from a university (top) and from Enron (below); the shape of each network changed a great deal depending on how connections were defined. Credit: Yahoo
However, many users balked at having what they perceived as mischaracterized social connections, forcing the company to frantically backpedal and make the Buzz service less automated and more under users' control.
This incident notwithstanding, many companies are increasingly interested in automatically determining users' social ties through e-mail and social network communications. For example, IBM's Lotus division offers a product called Atlas that constructs social data from corporate communications, and Microsoft has investigated using such data to automatically prioritize the e-mails that workers receive. But researchers say there are a lot of unsolved problems with generating and analyzing social networks based on patterns of communication.
In a paper presented recently at the WWW2010 conference in Raleigh, NC, a group of researchers from Yahoo pointed out that before it's possible to construct an accurate picture of a social network, researchers have to do a better job of defining what it takes for two people to be connected. Should two people be considered friends if they've exchanged e-mails once? Or should it take 10 exchanges before their connection counts?
"You don't get to directly observe relationships, you get to observe communication events," says Jake Hofman, a researcher in Yahoo Research's social dynamics group, who was involved with the work. Algorithms will infer dramatically different social network structures based on different interpretations of these communications events. Such networks might be more suitable for different circumstances. For example, a network based on relatively infrequent communications might turn out to work well for sharing tagged news items. More frequent communications might work better for networks designed for sharing more intimate information.
"For the most part, the thresholds we set [for automatically generating social networks] are arbitrary," says Lada Adamic, an assistant professor in the School of Information and the Center for the Study of Complex Systems at the University of Michigan. Adamic notes that there are other questions than the ones raised by the Yahoo paper. For instance, she says, most algorithms define networks simplistically--people are either connected or not, without a way to indicate the gray areas common in real life.
She says it's possible to keep refining the algorithms, but there will always be errors because the data available won't capture the whole pattern. For example, two people might not e-mail each other, but they may talk regularly over the phone or in person.
Incomplete information can throw off attempts to characterize social networks automatically, says Eric Gilbert, who will be an assistant professor of interactive computing at Georgia Tech starting this fall. Algorithms can miss identifying the most intimate connections because these are likely to be face-to-face rather than digital communication--what Gilbert calls it the "spouse problem" or "the roommate problem." Gilbert has found that studying the structure of a network in greater detail can compensate for this to a degree. For example, a married couple is likely to share a large number of friends. But he acknowledges that this doesn't solve the problem altogether.
On the flip side of the spouse problem is "the ex problem," which was highlighted during the launch of Buzz. This occurs when algorithms connect two people who may have communicated frequently at one point but no longer do, and no longer wish to--such as estranged romantic partners. Gilbert explains that it's hard to automatically discover an event such as a breakup because of the complex variables that surround it. Two people may stop communicating because one is busy, or on vacation. Algorithms would have to examine and compare complex behavior over time and in the context of other connections to understand this.
Munmun De Choudhury, who was involved with the Yahoo research and now works at Microsoft Research, says that more research can be done to help algorithms better understand the nature of social connections. Frequent e-mails could indicate either a very positive or very negative relationship, for example, and additional analysis might help algorithms identify the difference between the two.
Ultimately, Adamic says, it is a question of how much error can be tolerated when generating a network automatically. In some cases, algorithms that mine e-mail and other communications work quite well, and can be used to save time by providing an overview of connections or filtering information.
Automatically inferring the nature of social connections may be useful for prioritizing messages or establishing privacy settings that a user could then approve. However, "you don't want to overinfer or get so fine-grained that it's creepy," Gilbert cautions. All the researchers agree that allowing users to clean up any errors introduced by the algorithms is crucial to progress. "You always have the option of bringing in the human element," says Adamic. "You could always take a step where the algorithm is 95 percent accurate and you let individuals handle the last 5 percent."
Steve Jobs is one-quarter of the way to victory in his increasingly heated take-no-prisoners assault on Adobe Flash.
According to a survey conducted by video aggregator MeFeedia, 26 per cent of all web video is now available for playback withthe HTML5 <video> tag and the H.264 codec. That means that 26 per cent of web video is now viewable on the iPhone/Pod/Pad. And, of course, Steve Jobs asserts that it's the most important 26 per cent.
MeFeedia's CEO Frank Sinton tells The Reg that the survey's was a large one: content from over 30,000 sources. Sites in the MeFeedia Video Index include Hulu, YouTube, Vimeo, and DailyMotion, plus music videos from Vevo and MTV, and news from AP, ABC, CBS, and CNN.
We'll call that a data set comprehensive enough to make an acceptably accurate ballpark estimate of web-video encoding practices.
Although Adobe Flash can act as an envelope for H.264-encoded video content, that content can't be viewed on devices that don't support Flash - say, Apple's iPhone/Pod/Pad - even though those devices can decode H.264 video when it's presented by HTML5.
Optimistic Adobe execs might come to the conclusion that their Flash glass is a hefty 74 per cent full and a mere 26 per cent empty, but the trend line is not in their favor: when MeFeedia conducted the same analysis at the beginning of this year, only 10 per cent of the video they analyzed was HTML5/H.264.
And there's plenty of H.264 video out there available for conversion to the HTML5 <video> tag. "Total H.264 is actually higher than 26 per cent," Sinton told us. "A lot of Flash video is a wrapper around H.264. Some observers suggest total H.264 is around 67 per cent of web video, but we don't believe it's that high. Ogg, by the way, is seeing much lower adoption."
But none of that Flash-based H.264 video will play on Steve Jobs' mobile devices - and we're willing to bet the farm, our right arm, and certain family jewels that Adobe will remain banished from Cupertino's hot properties.
No wonder that Adobe is both running a self-promoting ad campaign and trotting out company co-founders - and respected pioneers - Chuck Geschke and John Warnock to provide their views on Cupertino's Flash-bashing.
Adobe is spooked - and according to MeFeedia's data about the advance of HTML5, they have every reason to be. ®
WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNNMoney.com) -- Former President Bill Clinton exhorted 650 of the country's youngest entrepreneurs to look beyond their own business ambitions and use their positions to benefit the less fortunate worldwide.
"The mission of humanity and the mission of America in the 21st century is to build up the positive and reduce the negative forces of our interdependence," Clinton said Friday night.
Clinton spoke at the Summit Series, a three-day conference of networking, discussions and activities for young entrepreneurs. The twentysomething, early thirtysomething crowd of CEOs, founders and investors come from a range of backgrounds.
Half the world lives on less than $2 per day, Clinton noted. "I really believe that the definition of citizenship is being fundamentally altered by the level of interdependence that we have."
In the age of record budget deficits, government agencies don't have enough resources to help the underserved, Clinton said. He pointed to the gap between what the government and the global network of nonprofits can afford to do and what is demanded of them.
"In the best of all worlds you will have a continuous interface with what is done by the government, the private sector and the NGOs [non-governmental organizations]," he said. But "we will always need citizen action," and that is where entrepreneurs can really take hold. "Businesses can find a way to make money with a humanitarian rule."
One attendee, Melissa Kushner, the 29-year-old founder of Goods for Goods, took heed. Her New York nonprofit company funnels surplus materials - like fabric and office supplies - to South African nations, primarily Malawi. She has three employees in the United States and two abroad.
"I thought it was absolutely amazing how smoothly he integrated so many of the issues we are facing all over our globe," Kushner said.
Katie Johnston, another attendee, works for an Ernst & Young unit that focuses on high-growth, entrepreneurial companies. "This is such a highly motivated audience," she said. All the attendees have "some sort of social service: the line between business and social causes is blurring, at least for this generation."
The Summit Series is decidedly hip. There are no suits for these CEOs. Jeans and sneakers mix with flip flops and an occasional blazer. The evenings offer clubs, DJs and late-night snacks. There is no time for keeping track of business cards:
The Summit Series entrepreneurs use "MingleSticks" to keep up with who's who. When an attendee meets a new friend or business partner, they point their "MingleSticks" at each other and wait for a green light to tell them contact information has been passed.
Despite the fun atmosphere, the task list is ambitious.
A look at what inspires young entrepreneurs to create change: http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2010/05/14/smb_summit_inspire.cnnmoney/
Clinton spoke of his current concerns about rebuilding Haiti and revamping the U.S. health care system and reining in higher education costs. He also talked about efforts to provide health care to impoverished countries and the need for funding to get medicine to those nations.
One attendee was glad to hear the former president hitting the global issues hard. "It was really interesting to see a man of President Clinton's intellect -- when he is out of office -- being able to speak so candidly," said Jake Strom, who runs marketing and strategy for TOMS Shoes
“Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have laboured hard for.” - Socrates
A few years ago, while at Lawas in Sarawak, I was told this story of a very strong and skilled Kayan woodcutter who asked for a job with a timber merchant.
He got the job with a good salary and decent work conditions. And so, the woodcutter was determined to do his best for the boss. His boss gave him an axe and on his first day, the woodcutter cut down 15 trees. The boss was pleased and said: “Well done, good work!”
Highly motivated, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but could only fell 13 trees. The third day, he tried even harder, but only 11 trees were chopped down.
Day after day, he tried harder but he cut down fewer trees. “I must be losing my strength,” the Kayan woodcutter thought. He apologised to the boss, claiming he could not understand why.
Great leaders like (from left) Steve Jobs, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela have a continuous appetite for learning and growth.
“When was the last time you sharpened your axe?” the boss asked. “Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been too busy cutting down trees,” said the woodcutter.
He sharpened his axe and immediately was back to 15 trees a day. Since then, he begins the day by sharpening his axe.
Most leaders are too busy doing and trying to achieve, that they never take time to learn and grow. Most of us don't have the time or patience to update skills, knowledge, and beliefs about an industry, or to take time to think and reflect. Many assume that learning ends at school and so sharpening our axe is not a priority.
So, what exactly is sharpening the axe? Dr Steven Covey, who popularised the term, believes it means “increasing your personal production capacity by daily self care and self-maintenance.”
Most people fail to understand what it means and mistake it for taking a break or vacation. If you're overworking yourself and your productivity drops off, take a break.
However, that isn't sharpening the axe; that's putting the axe down. When you put down a dull blade and rest, the blade will still be dull when you pick it up.
The woodcutter does need downtime to rest, but it is not “sharpening the axe.” The woodcutter only becomes more productive by sharpening his blade, analysing new woodcutting techniques, exercising to become stronger, and learning from other woodcutters.
Sharpening the axe is an activity. You too can sharpen the axe of your life. Here are 10 ways:
● Read a book every day; ● Get out of your comfort zone by changing jobs. A new job forces you to learn; ● Have a deep conversation with someone you find interesting. Sharpen your axe through that interaction; ● Pick up a new hobby. Stretch yourself physically, mentally or emotionally; ● Study something new; ● Overcome a specific fear you have or quit a bad habit; ● Have a daily exercise routine or take part in some competition; ● Identify your blind spots. Understand, acknowledge, and address it; ● Ask for feedback and get a mentor; and ● Learn from people who inspire you. Subscribe to YouTube/leaderonomicsmedia and watch interviews of great leaders.
You have to do it as often as possible. But if you're so focused on your task at hand with no time for discussion, introspection, or study, you're not really moving forward. Just as a car needs to be refuelled to keep going, we too need refuelling through learning.
The Management Mythbuster author David Axson believes most organisations still rely on outdated management strategies. Unless we are sharpening our axe daily by observing the changing world and changing ourselves accordingly, we risk becoming irrelevant.
Andrew Grove reinvented Intel and oversaw a 4,500 times increase in market capitalisation by his daily habitual “axe-sharpening” ritual of understanding global changes and taking advantage of these to ensure Intel remained relevant.
Employees at Japanese organisations like Toyota believe it's a crisis if they do not create improvement each day. The “Kaizen mindset” means that every day, whether you're a line worker or executive, you find ways to learn something new and apply it to what you're doing. This forces employees to be alert, mindful and constantly improving.
Great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Steve Jobs have a continuous appetite for learning and growth. They always listen and watch in the hope of learning new ideas and discovering new truths and realities.
Many of us do just the opposite. By staying in the same job for many years, although we become experts and our roles become easy, our learning flattens.
We don't like changing jobs as there is pain and struggle in taking on new roles. But the more we struggle, the more we learn.
When a new boss with new expectations takes over, we sometimes find ourselves struggling even though we have been in the same role for years. We try harder but still fail to impress. Why does this happen?
Much like the woodcutter, trying harder will not yield results. This is because we did not upgrade ourselves nor grow in the “easy” years. Our years of experience count for nothing as we did not keep up with the world around us and were ignorant and mindless of things that were evolving daily around us.
Two weeks ago, I interviewed Harvard Prof Ellen Langer, who reminded me of our natural inclination to be mindless. Mindlessness is our human tendency to operate on autopilot, whether by stereotyping, performing mechanically or simply not paying attention.
We are all victims of being mindless at times. By sharpening our axe, we move from a mindless state to a mindful state; from “blindly going with the flow” to thinking and “breaking boundaries.”
Why then do so many people fail to sharpen their axe? Well, axe sharpening isn't as fun as whacking away at the tree. And it is painful and tedious work.
Religious leader David O. McKay once said: “The greatest battles of life are fought out daily in the silent chambers of the soul.”
Sharpening the axe is a daily inner battle. Research reveals that self-educated presidents like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln sharpened their axe daily by cultivating the discipline of reading.
In a number of Asian organisations, when there is a crisis or financial situation, the first thing that gets slashed is training programmes for employees. Yet, in a crisis, there is a greater need for employees to have sharpened axes to deal with issues.
Crises often helps companies to become great because they finally take time to sharpen their axe by re-looking at their current strategies and reinventing their industries, sometimes through painful reforms.
Before the 1998 Asian financial crisis, the Korean auto industry were jaguh kampung and known for low-quality cars with strong domestic car sales.
The crisis forced them to take a step back, sharpen their axe, become mindful to the world and move to sell the majority of their cars outside South Korea.
Of course, too much or aimless axe sharpening can become another form of procrastination. Many like to attend training courses and classes but end up never using the axe. After sharpening the axe, use it or all is in vain.
How are your various blades doing? Your skills, your knowledge, your mind, your physical body, your relationships, your motivation, your commitment to succeed, your capacity for growth, your emotions - are all of them still sharp? If not, which ones are dull, and what can you do to sharpen them?
Lincoln once said: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I'll spend the first four sharpening my axe.” What are you doing to sharpen your axe? Take a step back this weekend and start sharpening your axe.
■ Roshan Thiran is CEO of Leaderonomics, a social enterprise passionate about transforming the nation through leadership development. Sign your kids up for the leadership camps in June at www.diodecamp.com, or call 016 6559017. You can also listen to Leaderonomics leaders every Monday at 11am on BFM89.9 or download podcasts at www.leaderonomics.com.
Manga prince: Choo showing some of his collectibles after meeting his fans at Lot 10 shopping complex Sunday. - AZMAN GHANI / The Star
