tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-158831882024-03-13T14:59:27.423-07:00The World In and Around UsMaking sense of what I see in technology, business, and society.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-34453509666937895272013-05-15T13:53:00.000-07:002013-05-15T14:19:54.808-07:00ePubs, iBooks, Kindle - Footnote, Drop Caps, inline icons?I've been trying to find way to <b><u>add an icon for reference footnotes inside paragraphs and sentences</u></b>. Liz Castro covered some corner <a href="http://www.pigsgourdsandwikis.com/2010/05/controlling-image-size-in-ibooks-on.html">cases for iBooks</a>. But it involves wrapping <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">img</span> with a <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">div</span>. The problem is that this causes problems when your image should be inside a <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">p</span> <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"></span>tag.<br />
<br />
What I want is to be able to add an icon inside a paragraph and sometimes in between a paragraph (i.e. display:inline-block). The icon ideally should be able to resize based on the reader's current font-size setting (i.e. the use of "em" instead of absolute pixels number). The solution needs to be cross-platform - so the same ePub/mobi source file would work on iBooks, Kindle e-Ink, Kindle Fire, etc.<br />
<br />
Here is my current snippet.<br />
<code><br /></code>
<code><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">
<div style="display:inline-block;" data-linked="true"><a data-links="1" name="mn-26086aa1b6aa38d2f6fe4af53eb786e1" style="text-decoration:none;display:inline-block;<span style="color: blue;"><b>height:0.98em;width:0.69em;</b></span>" href="mn-26086aa1b6aa38d2f6fe4af53eb786e1.xhtml"><img <span style="color: red;"><b>height="20px" width="14px"</b></span> src="Penguin-mid-res.JPG" style="<span style="color: blue;"><b>height:100%;width:100%;</b></span>vertical-align:middle;"/></a></div>
</span></code>
<br />
<code><br /></code>
<code><br /></code>
The <span style="color: blue;"><b>blue portion</b></span> is for iBooks as mentioned in Liz's post. However, there's seem to be a problem when the above snippet is placed <b><u>inside</u></b> a paragraph <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"></span>tag.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O6C5IyXFpBA/UZGFDuJl1RI/AAAAAAABFyg/ipUCKJ4zhuI/s1600/2013-05-13+15.49.55.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O6C5IyXFpBA/UZGFDuJl1RI/AAAAAAABFyg/ipUCKJ4zhuI/s400/2013-05-13+15.49.55.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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As you can see, it works fine when the icon is outside the paragraph in the second case.</div>
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The reason we have the <span style="color: red;"><b>red part of the code</b></span> is that Kindle e-Ink doesn't support style tag and it also doesn't (the ones I tested) accept "em" for image sizing. But it does support <a href="https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A1JPUWCSD6F59O">height/width attributes directly</a> so by defining those we can set the height and width for Kindle and then it safely ignores the css inside the style attribute.</div>
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This part does seem to work right now.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-41955185133873896122012-07-08T23:50:00.000-07:002012-08-07T14:32:49.127-07:00Sales and Top Books<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sales is probably one of the most American jobs one can get. In fact, every sales person is also an entrepreneur. I've read "SPIN Selling" years ago and currently listening to "Secrets of Closing the Sale" audio book. But I'm left wanting to find more books about sales. After searching around a bit, these seem to be the top books on the subject. These books focus purely on selling and the sales process (i.e. don't include books on persuasion or negotiation - though these topics are also touched on tangentially).</span><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"I am proud to be a salesman because more than any other man I, and millions of others like me, built America.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The man who builds a better mouse trap -or a better anything-would starve to death if he waited for people to beat a pathway to his door. Regardless of how good, or how needed, the product or service might be, it has to be sold.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Eli Whitney was laughed at when he showed his cotton gin. Edison had to install his electric light free of charge in an office building before anyone would even look at it. The first sewing machine was smashed to pieces. People scoffed at the idea of railroads. They thought that even traveling thirty miles an hour would stop the circulation of the blood! McCormick strived for fourteen years to get people to use his reaper. Westinghouse was considered a fool for stating that he could stop a train with wind. Morse had to plead before ten Congresses before they would even look at his telegraph.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The public didn't go around demanding these things they had to be sold!"</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Zig Ziglar - Salesman</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Classics:</span></b><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0070511136?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393185&creativeASIN=0070511136&linkCode=shr&tag=mobnotate-20&colid=3L3NYJN28FXQV&coliid=IMCITYPD1U2V6&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC">SPIN Selling</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786303158?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393185&creativeASIN=0786303158&linkCode=shr&tag=mobnotate-20&colid=3L3NYJN28FXQV&coliid=I17HKT429GG1IA&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC">Solution Selling: Creating Buyers in Difficult Selling Markets</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013Y1UHY?ie=UTF8&tag=mobnotate-20&linkCode=shr&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B0013Y1UHY&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&ref_=kinw_dp_ke">The New Solution Selling: The Revolutionary Sales Process That is Changing the Way People Sell</a> (Kindle)</span></li>
</ul>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">From the Guru's:</span></b><br />
<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Zig Ziglar: </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YM68Y6?ie=UTF8&tag=mobnotate-20&linkCode=shr&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B000YM68Y6&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&ref_=kinw_dp_ke">Selling 101: What Every Successful Sales Professional Needs to Know</a> (Kindle) and </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CSG4JK?ie=UTF8&tag=mobnotate-20&linkCode=shr&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B001CSG4JK&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&ref_=kinw_dp_ke">Secrets of Closing the Sale</a> (Kindle)</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tom Hopkins: </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005SZ151U?ie=UTF8&tag=mobnotate-20&linkCode=shr&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B005SZ151U&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&ref_=kinw_dp_ke">How to Master the Art of Selling</a> (Kindle)</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brian Tracy: </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SEQKRK?ie=UTF8&tag=mobnotate-20&linkCode=shr&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B000SEQKRK&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&ref_=kinw_dp_ke">The Psychology of Selling: Increase Your Sales Faster and Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible</a> (Kindle)</span></li>
</ul>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">General:</span></b><br />
<div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WH7PCC?ie=UTF8&tag=mobnotate-20&linkCode=shr&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B000WH7PCC&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&ref_=kinw_dp_ke">Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness</a> (Kindle)</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Big Customers:</span></b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003NX7NLU?ie=UTF8&tag=mobnotate-20&linkCode=shr&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B003NX7NLU&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&ref_=kinw_dp_ke">SNAP Selling: Speed Up Sales and Win More Business with Today's Frazzled Customers</a> (Kindle)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002N2JLLW?ie=UTF8&tag=mobnotate-20&linkCode=shr&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B002N2JLLW&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&ref_=kinw_dp_ke">Selling to the C-Suite: What Every Executive Wants You to Know About Successfully Selling to the Top</a> (Kindle)</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Basics:</span></b></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001J8PQX8?ie=UTF8&tag=mobnotate-20&linkCode=shr&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B001J8PQX8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&ref_=kinw_dp_ke">The New Strategic Selling: The Unique Sales System Proven Successful by the World's Best Companies</a> (Kindle)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446695181?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393185&creativeASIN=0446695181&linkCode=shr&tag=mobnotate-20&colid=3L3NYJN28FXQV&coliid=I2ZON2UXOP39HW&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC">The New Conceptual Selling: The Most Effective and Proven Method for Face-to-Face Sales Planning</a></span></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Other mentions:</span></b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SMQGLC?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B000SMQGLC&linkCode=shr&tag=mobnotate-20&colid=3L3NYJN28FXQV&coliid=I2VY077JIQ9QK7&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC">The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies</a> (Kindle)</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Other lists:</span></b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://steveblank.com/books-for-startups/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://steveblank.com/books-for-startups/</span></a></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-sales-books?redirected_qid=38440">http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-sales-books?redirected_qid=38440</a></span></li>
</ul>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-44894151893313447392012-06-29T18:52:00.002-07:002012-06-29T18:54:50.946-07:00Adam Smith and Karl Marx: If there is a live interview today<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Earlier I used my startup <a href="http://www.mobntotate.com/">www.mobntotate.com</a> to link Adam Smith's Wealth of Nation to Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto. Mobnotate is able to find ~10 places where the two authors talk about the same topic. You can see the complete list and download the Wealth of the Nation with Marx's comments <a href="http://bit.ly/KN0AfV">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are some of the more interesting parts. Adam Smith's is a supporter of division of labor and the increase investment in machinery as a way of increasing productivity.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><i>"The <b><u>increase in the wages of labour necessarily increases the price of many commodities, by increasing that part of it which resolves itself into wages, and so far tends to diminish their consumption both at home and abroad</u></b>. The same cause, however, which raises the wages of labour, the increase of stock, tends to increase its productive powers, and to make a smaller quantity of labour produce a greater quantity of work. The owner of the stock which employs a great number of labourers, necessarily endeavours, for his own advantage, to make such a proper division and distribution of employment that they may be enabled to produce the greatest quantity of work possible. For the same reason, he endeavours to supply them with the best machinery which either he or they can think of. What takes place among the labourers in a particular workhouse takes place, for the same reason, among those of a great society. The greater their number, the more they naturally divide themselves into different classes and subdivisions of employment. More heads are occupied in inventing the most proper machinery for executing the work of each, and it is, therefore, more likely to be invented. There are many commodities, therefore, which, <b><u>in consequence of these improvements, come to be produced by so much less labour than before that the increase of its price is more than compensated by the diminution of its quantity</u></b>." </i></span><span style="text-align: justify;"><i>(</i></span><span style="text-align: justify;">Chapter 8 - Of The Wages Of Labour)</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Marx on the other hand feel that the increase use of machine means that the relative value of labor decreases. Therefore it hurts the power of workers to the point of making them almost irrelevant.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>"Owing to the extensive use of machinery, and to the division of labor, the work of the proletarians has lost all individual character, and, consequently, all charm for the workman. He becomes an appendage of the machine, and it is only the most simple, most monotonous, and most easily acquired knack, that is required of him. Hence, t<b><u>he cost of production of a workman is restricted, almost entirely, to the means of subsistence that he requires for maintenance, and for the propagation of his race</u></b>. But the price of a commodity, and therefore also of labor, is equal to its cost of production. In proportion, therefore, as the repulsiveness of the work increases, the wage decreases. What is more, <b><u>in proportion as the use of machinery and division of labor increases, in the same proportion the burden of toil also increases, whether by prolongation of the working hours, by the increase of the work exacted in a given time, or by increased speed of machinery, etc</u></b>." (</i>Manifesto Of The Communist Party: Chapter 1 - Bourgeois And Proletarians)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Smith though thinks that the cost of labour should go up and <b><u>not</u></b> down, despite the fact that less labour is needed.</span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"It is the natural effect of improvement, however, to diminish gradually the real price of almost all manufactures. That of the manufacturing workmanship diminishes, perhaps, in all of them without exception. In consequence of better machinery, of greater dexterity, and of a more proper division and distribution of work, all of which are the natural effects of improvement, <b><u>a much smaller quantity of labour becomes requisite for executing any particular piece of work, and though, in consequence of the flourishing circumstances of the society, the real price of labour should rise very considerably</u></b>, yet the great diminution of the quantity will generally much more than compensate the greatest rise which can happen in the price." (6. Third Sort)</span></i></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-48807580971993125992011-11-29T13:18:00.001-08:002011-11-29T15:08:07.160-08:00American Airline: Chapter 11 Restructuring?<br />
Two days ago, I tried to change my American Airline ticket to an earlier day. The agent won't change it for anything less than $650.<br />
<br />
I tried to explain to her that the new flight is flying in a few hours, the seat is a perishable good that she is unlikely to find any taker in the meantime, any new money I give her is pure profit for them (free money with almost no incremental cost to AA), and they get to relinquish my original seat with a lot more time to re-sell it to someone else.<br />
<br />
She asked me if I see other flights from another airline. I told her that Delta is offering me another flight for $450 and they will have to at least match this price to make any sense for me to switch. I can even overpay a bit because I have a partial refund from the original ticket.<br />
<br />
She said - "<u style="font-weight: bold;">But we already have your money</u>". I thought I mis-heard her because I feel a bit being held as hostage. But she said it twice!! Basically, she told me to pound sand. Anyhow, I bought from Delta in the end.<br />
<br />
Today, I got an email from AA about their <a href="http://www.aa.com/i18n/information/restructuring.jsp?anchorLocation=DirectURL&title=restructuring">Chapter 11</a> with a nice video from their Chairman.<br />
<br />
It's true that AA already has my money, but they could've had my money twice AND re-sell my original seat once more to someone else. I talked to another agent later and turns out that the agents don't get any commissions from making a sale. No wonder why they weren't more aggressive to earn my business and the attitude seems a bit "arrogant".Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-60829900870477709592011-11-11T22:27:00.001-08:002011-12-10T10:18:43.446-08:00Extraordinary Individuals from Business Schools: INSEAD, Harvard, and Stanford<br />
I had dinner with the President of INSEAD North America few nights ago and I learned that the North America alumni forum is coming up. The <a href="http://inseadamericas.com/?page_id=9">forum list</a> reads like a group of really accomplished and well known people.<br />
<br />
This got me wondering. How many alumni from business schools will actually make it big? Who will be truly world famous?<br />
<br />
Unlike many business school ranking on career satisfaction survey or international metrics, this has a bit of raw, cut to the core, kind of feeling to it. Fashionable MBA ranking metric changes every year (to sell more papers???). This metric tends to be more stable overtime. Having said that, this doesn't measure the ROI of a particular MBA program or the responsiveness of the alumni network. If you're interested in which school you should apply to, you can read more from <a href="http://walkabout165.blogspot.com/2010/02/insead-week-7.html">my classmate here</a>.<br />
<br />
Rather, my goal here is very simple - <b><u>which business school is graduating extraordinary individuals</u></b> - ignoring whether the school is really nurturing them or just simply good at picking them among the applicants.<br />
<br />
To find graduates who have made it I ran a search on how many executives with profiles on <a href="http://people.forbes.com/search">Forbes</a> and <a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/people/person.asp">Businessweek</a> with mentions of each institution. I only ran this for INSEAD, Harvard, and Stanford. I was going to do Wharton, Kellogg, and IMD too, but these schools have names that are a bit harder to filter out (e.g. Wharton has a huge undergraduate program). Feel free to add these in the comment section.<br />
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This is the raw data:<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="300" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en_US&hl=en_US&key=0AtxPh44UE-9adEtzTW9WcjU0cXhJRE50RmVWaGFEb2c&single=true&gid=0&output=html&widget=true" width="500"></iframe>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><br />
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You can use this method to do it for your favorite school with these keyword combinations - e.g <a href="http://www.google.com/search?gcx=w&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=INSEAD+OR+%22European+Institute+of+Business+Administration%22+site%3Ainvesting.businessweek.com%2Fresearch%2Fstocks%2Fpeople%2F">INSEAD</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?gcx=w&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=%22Harvard+Business+School%22+OR+%22Harvard+Graduate+School+of+Business%22+site%3Ainvesting.businessweek.com%2Fresearch%2Fstocks%2Fpeople%2F">Harvard</a>, or Stanford with their many <a href="http://www.google.com/search?gcx=w&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=%22Stanford+University+Graduate+School+of+Business%22+OR+%22Stanford+business+school%22+OR+%22Stanford+Graduate+School+of+Business%22+site%3Apeople.forbes.com%2Fprofile">strange name combinations</a> (is this an intentional branding strategy...?)</div>
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Note that this method includes everyone with references to the school (e.g. who worked for the school or graduates with EMBA, PhDs, etc...). I also included the # of alumni and the size of the class in case you want to figure out the "efficiency" of a school at churning out extraordinary people. MBA/year is taken as of 2010. For INSEAD, this has increased gradually over time from ~50 MBAs/year five decades ago to 980 MBAs/year today. What I really want is number of living alumni who are between 40-65 years old, but I don't know how to get that.<br />
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If anyone knows a cleaner data source, a more global data source, or a more comprehensive data source (e.g. includes politics) feel free to leave me a comment :-)</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-58741228915775415482011-10-28T08:47:00.000-07:002011-11-01T13:13:48.430-07:00Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson - Using Machine Learning to extract topics from a 650 page book.[This post is continuously updated since I just bought it last night from feedbooks...]<br />
<br />
The goal is to allow me to get a quick overview of this 650 page book and figure out where to read (since I know the Steve Jobs story pretty well and I'm more interested in some of the key short stories that I didn't know already).<br />
<br />
This is the first try. Haven't used any external data. Didn't model the correlation among topics and changes over time. Software ran for about 1M iterations.<br />
<br />
Me: <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/kinwong">@kinwong</a><br />
Design Advisor: <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/inasee">@inasee</a><br />
Technical Advisor: <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/seannyg">@seannyg</a><br />
<br />
<br />
0 pixar disney katzenberg<br />
1 baez young egan<br />
2 gass share unix<br />
3 raskin project jef<br />
4 lasseter smith software<br />
5 blue box dylan<br />
6 brother levy hawaii<br />
7 ipod fadell music<br />
8 intensity drop vegetarian<br />
9 perspective objects emotionally<br />
10 einstein heroes ceo<br />
11 music itunes ipod<br />
12 board ceo financial<br />
13 apple company product<br />
14 phone touch glass<br />
15 devices cloud hub<br />
16 sculley macintosh division<br />
17 paul education electronic<br />
18 gates microsoft windows<br />
19 disk frogdesign susan<br />
20 atari alcorn bushnell<br />
21 dylan bono ipod<br />
22 truth campbell levitt<br />
23 markkula ii mike<br />
24 flew release rights<br />
25 costs struck casual<br />
26 macintosh ibm ad<br />
27 coleman players stand<br />
28 macintosh hertzfeld mac<br />
29 reed father erin<br />
30 options stock price<br />
31 kottke friedland zen<br />
32 hewlett book packard<br />
33 sculley pepsi marketing<br />
34 express interfaces intensity<br />
35 suit perfection leaving<br />
36 powell cancer health<br />
37 iger eisner deal<br />
38 intel sec grant<br />
39 wozniak woz personal<br />
40 father school electronics<br />
41 college lsd campus<br />
42 romantic attention condition<br />
43 laser mr ideas<br />
44 ipad digital apps<br />
45 ad commercial ads<br />
46 imac drive tray<br />
47 computer computers show<br />
48 google iphone android<br />
49 murdoch books dinner<br />
50 parents joanne paul<br />
51 amelio woolard ellison<br />
52 lawsuit smartphones steel<br />
53 filter trait maintain<br />
54 eason information hormone<br />
55 powell laurene smith<br />
56 mountain boy pot<br />
57 lisa father simpson<br />
58 jobs steve time<br />
59 raise childhood assistant<br />
60 wayne hp keyboard<br />
61 perot rand lewin<br />
62 stores store johnson<br />
63 rounded fonts bauhaus<br />
64 hurt carrot fasts<br />
65 cancer cook rubinstein<br />
66 people make made<br />
67 debi paris france<br />
68 house found family<br />
69 software products system<br />
70 crowd feet thrown<br />
71 reality distortion field<br />
72 design products simplicity<br />
73 lisa sony drive<br />
74 palo alto wife<br />
75 metal semiconductor feet<br />
76 cook airplane players<br />
77 xerox atkinson parc<br />
78 ive product jony<br />
79 brennan relationship calhoun<br />
80 clow crazy licensing<br />
81 public ipo shares<br />
82 audience onstage appearedAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-5194211057713419422011-02-23T00:34:00.000-08:002011-02-23T00:47:43.170-08:00Digital Media 101 for Writers - What you can do in the next 60 minutes<div style="background-color: transparent; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.13524500071071088" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(I wrote this post for my author friends)</span></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.13524500071071088" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.13524500071071088" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Why you should care?</b></span></span><br />
<ul><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Your online presence is a long-term asset that stays with you even when you move across jobs, projects, companies, and books. It accumulates over time.</span></span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Building a passionate community allows you guarantee sales of your book, build up future pre-orders, and have the opportunity to mobilize your community for meaningful purpose. (I'm also writing a post with examples of authors who are leveraging their community for the greater good)</span></span></li>
</ul><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What you can do in the next 60 minutes:</b></span></span><br />
<ul><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sign up for a blogging service - </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (recommended) or </span><a href="http://www.wordpress.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">WordPress</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (advanced)</span></span></li>
<ul><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This becomes your permanent space online.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Make sure that people can subscribe to your blog via RSS and comment on it.</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Optional) Get a domain name with your name (e.g. blog.rickykinwong.com).</span></span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Optional) Integrate it with </span><a href="http://disqus.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">disqus</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> commenting system. See the posts on my blog as an example.</span></span></li>
</ul><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Signup for <a href="http://twitter.com/">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://facebook.com/">Facebook</a>, and </span><a href="http://linkedin.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">LinkedIn</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></li>
<ul><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Optional) Use <a href="http://tweetdeck.com/">Tweetdeck</a> or <a href="http://seesmic.com/">Seesmic</a> to follow your friends.</span></span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Post interesting short content on twitter/facebook/linkedin “updates”. Occasionally post updates to link back to your blog to buildup your “space”.</span></span></li>
</ul><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Subscribe to popular blogs/sites in your topic with a rss news reader.</span></span></li>
<ul><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Recommended: </span><a href="http://reader.google.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Reader</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Search for other blogs in your topic - </span><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Blogsearch</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or </span><a href="http://technorati.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Technorati</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></li>
</ul><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Write posts that are designed to be shared and link generously to other bloggers so hopefully that they would link you back.</span></span></li>
<ul><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can start by linking to this post here :-) <a href="http://blog.rickykinwong.com/2011/02/digital-media-101-for-writers-what-you.html">http://blog.rickykinwong.com/2011/02/digital-media-101-for-writers-what-you.html</a></span></span></li>
</ul></ul></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-91416089670970539352011-02-10T16:42:00.000-08:002011-02-10T17:26:02.874-08:00Seth Godin's Domino Project<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What is the future of books? It's a big question with <a href="http://www.radcliffe.edu/events/calendar_2010books.aspx">big</a> and</span> <a href="http://www.toccon.com/">bigger conferences</a> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">and I plan to talk more about it in future posts. But this one is about Seth Godin's <a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/12/the-domino-project.html">Domino Project</a>. </span>Seth Godin said that he has <a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/08/moving-on.html">given up</a> on publishing, but looks like he is becoming a publisher himself with the <a href="http://www.thedominoproject.com/2011/01/poke-the-box-our-first-title-is-now-ready-for-pre-order.html">Domino</a>?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">My understanding is that he is trying to get folks who already have a small audience, help them self-publish books that are shorter, and then allow small scale, personal gifting to tap into word of mouth to grow it into a big audience.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Would it work? Can we find the right balance for a book that is short enough that a lot of people would read it and long enough that people would want to pay for it? This could all be speculative because I've never met Seth Godin and don't have any private information about the Domino Project.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It isn't the first time folks try to create shorter content (the <a href="http://www.store.economist.com/Group-Books.aspx">Economist</a> sells a bunch and TED is trying to do the same with <a href="http://bit.ly/hK1hDS">TEDBooks</a>). What's new here is that in the ebooks world, the incremental cost of "printing" a book is essentially zero and we can let readers gift additional copies cheaply, as long as the "gifter" doesn't gift it to people who would've bought the book in the first place (i.e. you don't want to eat into your own sales). I suppose that's where the concept of tribes comes in. We need a way to differentiate the original book from the one you get as a gift. e.g. a special, collectible edition of the book for true fan and basic electronic version that you can give out for free or at a discount. It's not a leap of faith. Musicians have experience doing this already. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grateful_Dead#Tapers">Grateful Death</a> lets tapers share personal (i.e. low quality) concert recordings and so does Lady Gaga.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><u>My minor disagreement is that I think the future is bright for traditional publishers too.</u></b> If Seth's venture does well, traditional publishers can figure out which "short" book takes off and help the author expand those into a full book.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-36732279865707393542011-02-02T13:29:00.000-08:002011-02-02T22:18:33.670-08:00MobNotate - Very Early Alpha Version<span class="Apple-style-span">The last two weeks I had some time to push out an early alpha of mobnotate. You can find it at <a href="http://www.mobnotate.com/">www.mobnotate.com</a>. Basically, you <b>email us any html webpage at post@mobnotate.com and we will reply you with a link to your document/ebook hosted for free with added features such as reader annotation capability and integration with Facebook</b> (e.g. any contribution by anyone will get broadcast to their wall if they're logged in).</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">This is a very very small part of what I want to accomplish with ebooks (which is a much bigger vision and involves more with mobile phones and tablets). The goal of this web version is to find out if we can use social media to help authors enrich content and increase the engagement from the readers. My success metric is to help writers (that's you!!) to get 10X more readers or 10X more engagement :-)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Current feature list (suggestions appreciated!!)</span></div><div><ul style="border-collapse: collapse; "><li style="margin-left: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Email a html webpage attachment to <a href="mailto:post@mobnotate.com" target="_blank">post@mobnotate.com</a> and we will reply with a link. That means you can use any offline editor you want and just export it to html before emailing us.</span></li><li style="margin-left: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Click in the doc anywhere to contribute content. Paste a link to an image or youtube video in the comment box to automatically embed multimedia.</span></li><li style="margin-left: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">If a user is connected to Facebook, any comment he/she makes will show up in their Facebook wall so that your book/document would get some viral marketing benefit. This also makes your content more social and personal.</span></li><li style="margin-left: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">A "Top contributors" ranking on the right to encourage participation from your readers.</span></li></ul><div style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Some sample documents,</span></div><div><ol><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><b><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=-2045003000">Art of War - Sun Tzu</a></b></span></span></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=1722893741"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><b>Alice in the Wonderland</b></span></a></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; border-collapse: collapse; "><b>FCIC Report (fresh off the press!!):</b></span></li></ol><span class="Apple-style-span"><ul><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=-1800045056">Conclusions</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=-1509792521">Hennessey Holtz-Eakin_Thomas_Dissent</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=1834863066">Wallison Dissent</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=1871080589">Chapter1</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=27680005">Chapter 2</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=-1296294337">Chapter 3</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=-1971699189">Chapter 4</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=585112263">Chapter 5</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=-1937850956">Chapter 6</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=827916832">Chapter 7</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=1624340538">Chapter 8</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=1391356591">Chapter 9</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=-868384623">Chapter 10</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=616079977">Chapter 11</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=-2091525462">Chapter 12</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=-1756098885">Chapter 13</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=361336486">Chapter 14</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=-1433114881">Chapter 15</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=-1670985352">Chapter 16</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=-1905966661">Chapter 17</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=1504411455">Chapter 18</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=1117791721">Chapter 19</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=646949560">Chapter 20</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=529723871">Chapter 22</a></li><li><a href="http://mobnotate.com/ebook/viewer?doc_id=-1623580732">Commissioners</a></li></ul><div>If you're a reader, try reading some of the ebooks above and help enrich the content. Or if you have original content yourself (either you wrote or is in the public domain), <b>email it to post@mobnotate.com as an attachment and share the reply link with your readers to jumpstart the community</b>. Feel free to email me anytime if you have any suggestions and ideas. By the way, if you have content that you expect to get a lot of readers let me know so I could try to prepare for it first :-)</div></span></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-31478970039887932432010-07-30T09:52:00.000-07:002011-06-08T17:26:14.725-07:00The INSEAD ExperienceWhat is the INSEAD Experience? What would still be the same if INSEAD isn't a business school (e.g. if INSEAD is a Public Policy school)? Over the last few weeks I got to meet students from other business schools and I realized how different the "INSEAD Experience" is. Here is my list on what creates the unique INSEAD experience:<br />
<div><b><br />
</b></div><div><b></b><br />
<div><b>1. Global</b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Truly global education.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> 2 full-scale campuses plus locations in other regions. If most big institutions are international these days shouldn't your school be too?</span></b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Broad international alumni base.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> Your network will automatically become much wider. Rather than duplicating your existing (and most likely concentrated) network, INSEAD naturally compliments it.</span></b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>European and Asian perspectives.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> Europe has a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)">bigger GDP</a> than the US, and Asia is of course a very exciting region to be in. Having exposures to cases, visitors, and classmates from these regions will differentiate you.</span></b></div><div><b><br />
</b></div><div><b>2. Intense, One Year Program. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">People here are self-selected to work-hard play-harder. You know your future INSEAD colleagues have the ability to organize their lives and the physical endurance that you can count on at critical moments :-)</span></b></div><div><b><br />
</b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b></b></span></b><br />
<div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>3. 3rd Language Requirement. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Did you always wanted to learn French or Chinese? I have classmates who went from zero to be quite conversant in a year. You just have to be persistent (see #2).</span></b></span></b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span></b></span></b></div></div><div><b>4. Big and Intimate at the same time. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Usually you either have to pick a bigger program or a smaller intimate one. INSEAD graduates the most MBAs each year among the top schools and certainly gives you space to network. At the same time, because of the dual-campus, dual-promotion system, you could also create an intimate program that is the smallest among the top schools. Depends how you structure it, INSEAD could be a school with 900+ students or 200. In fact, most people choose both. Why not enjoy a big chateau party one night and an intimate coffee chat the next?</span></b></div><div><b><br />
</b></div><div><b>5. Older Demographics. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">The average age is 29 means that your classmates are already bringing in certain amount of perspective and network.</span></b></div><div><b><br />
</b></div><div><b>6. Entrepreneurial and Independent. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">INSEAD stands alone as a private independent institution that isn't part of a bigger university system. This gives us certain flexibility to be innovative (e.g. dual campus system). We could move quicker and be more responsive to our "customers" because we manage our own finances and don't really have the luxury to be arrogant. The INSEAD idea itself was a startup and we don't just pay lip service to entrepreneurship.</span></b></div></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b></b></span></b><br />
<div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span></b></span></b></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-45304859798138682922010-02-21T09:55:00.000-08:002010-02-21T10:36:08.993-08:00What does 51K Euro buy you?Even taking into account that it is an one year program INSEAD is not cheap. Once a while though you realize you are getting a good deal on your tuition.<div><br /></div><div>The other day my section got a bonus lecture from <a href="http://www.insead.fr/facultyresearch/faculty/profiles/nvettas/">Nikos Vettas</a> on Greece and the Euro. Nikos is a super star Greek economist and is advising their government at this very critical time. One topic came up was how you can have a coordinated monetary policy when you don't have a coordinated fiscal policy. My personal feeling is that any talk of a Euro breakup is exaggerated and the monetary policy in the EU will stay quite loose for the time being.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the words, INSEAD's tuition might get cheaper after all.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-49544440496618577682010-02-08T12:48:00.000-08:002010-02-08T13:20:15.059-08:00MBA Groups<div><div>When I tell people that I'm in one of those bigger groups most people become very concern about my well-being. "Are you okay?", "Oh it is going to be tough trying to get consensus", and even "Some groups get physical you know...like fist fights". No fist fights so far :)</div><div><br /></div><div>What I like about my group is that we are all so different.</div><ul><li>A Peruvian Lawyer/Banker who has worked and lived in the US and South America.</li><li>A young management consultant/project manager/Private Equity lady from HK with experience from China to Southeast Asia.</li><li>A senior Swedish manager with extensive experience in online startups all over Europe.</li><li>A female Serbian/British Entrepreneur/CEO/Sales/Business Development with experience from Europe to Emerging Market.</li><li>An Indian CFA analyst and auditor with an IQ higher than you and I combined, and</li><li>Me</li></ul></div><div>But there's more common among us than you think -- other than we are all super smart, driven, and extremely good looking -- we are all global. We all have experience living or working in a new culture as a foreigner and trying to find our way around a new environment.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-72915943074108175552009-10-05T14:16:00.000-07:002009-10-05T14:19:37.761-07:00Photography - CompositionComposition is one of the most important ways to improve your pictures. My class that shows a few common techniques:<br /><br /><iframe src="http://docs.google.com/present/embed?id=ah2f55g9j9nb_62dd52dvgd" frameborder="0" height="342" width="410"></iframe><br /><br /><br />Introduction Class: <a href="http://blog.rickykinwong.com/2009/03/digital-photography-class-lecture-1.html">http://blog.rickykinwong.com/2009/03/digital-photography-class-lecture-1.html</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-62070004338001858412009-03-16T23:02:00.000-07:002012-04-05T10:49:21.726-07:00Investing ETF/Index with leverage: Which is a better deal -- LEAP Options or Margin loans?The primary ways to get leverage are 1) futures, 2) margin, and 3) options. A quick search makes me realize that futures contracts have high tax rate (<a href="http://www.traderslog.com/futures-trading-taxes.htm">23%</a>) compare to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEAPS_(finance)">LEAP</a>. The guy at <a href="http://www.indexroll.com/">IndexRoll</a> (who advocates LEAP) even published a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Enhanced-Indexing-Strategies-Utilizing-Performance/dp/0470259256/">book</a> that covers all the sources of leverage, which I think is a good general introduction. There's one problem -- he left out the issue of taxes. The same person appears to had a debate on a forum over <a href="http://www.financialwebring.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=102911&start=23">margin loans vs LEAPs</a>, but they didn't get into the specifics on the topic of taxes and just leave it as "depends". Here I give you some hard numbers to figure it out and <span style="font-weight: bold;">it appears that margin is a better deal</span>.<br />
<div>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Margin vs LEAPs:</span><br />
<br />
<div>
Benefits of LEAP:</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Long-term capital gain tax after a year (instead of short-term).</li>
<li>No margin calls.</li>
<li>Fixed interest rate (for one year before the next "roll").</li>
<li>No capital gain if cash exercise.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Benefits of Margin:</div>
</div>
<ol>
<li>Lower interest rate (because of tax efficiency and historically <a href="http://stockcharts.com/charts/YieldCurve.html">yield curve</a> goes up).</li>
<li>Long-term capital gain tax ONLY in the final year.</li>
</ol>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Numbers showing margin is a better deal</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span></div>
<div>
If you assume these (very reasonable) variables below <span style="font-weight: bold;">it appears that margin is a better deal. After five years the difference of the two is 3.8%, after 10 years it's 6.17%, and after 20 years it's 11.56%.</span><br />
<div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: left;">Margin Rate: 6.50%</li>
</ul>
Margin rate depends on many variables (size of loan, broker, and possibly collateral). Go here for your personal margin rate <a href="http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/accounts/fees/interest.php?ib_entity=llc">IB</a>, <a href="https://us.etrade.com/e/t/investingandtrading/pricingandmarginrates">etrade</a>, <a href="https://personal.vanguard.com/us/accounttypes/accountoptions/ATSMarginInvestingContent.jsp">vanguard</a>, and <a href="http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investment_products/margin_loans/rates?cmsid=P-983212&lvl1=investment_products&lvl2=margin_loans">schwarb</a>.<br />
<ul>
<li>LEAP Interest Rate 3.00%</li>
</ul>
This depends on a lot of elements (e.g. interest rate and volatility), but you can check the rate for SPY <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q/op?s=SPY">here</a>.<br />
<ul>
<li>Dividend 1.74%</li>
<li>Growth 8.50%</li>
<li>Marginal Tax 28.00%</li>
<li>Cap-Gain 15.00%</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>Here is the <a href="http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pC9nFV_XOq-U3aWfTbXBHew">spreadsheet</a> that shows year by year details.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Problem with margins:</span>The primary problem with margin are 1) Margin call risk, 2) variable interest rate, and 3) only investment income can deduct with margin interest (in the US).<br />
<br />
For #3 the amount of maximum leverage you can get and still keep the full benefit of tax deduction is about 1.37X. More precisely it should follow this relationship,<br />
<br />
L = M / (M - D), and 6.5 / (6.5 - 1.74) = 1.37<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">In reality you probably won't get leverage "much" higher than that so problem #1 and #3 balances each other out</span>. If you want higher leverage though it's true that the value of margin decreases, and you need to run the numbers for your personal scenario to come to a conclusion.<br />
<br />
At 1.3X leverage you can sustain 47% loss before a margin call (assume 30% maintenance margin). You'll have to decide if you can find additional funding before your position loses that much value.<br />
<br />
The problem of variable interest rate risk is a valid one. You'll have to decide if that is a risk you want to take or hedge it some other way.<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="font-weight: bold;">
Other sources of leverage:</div>
<div>
There're other ways of getting leverage like <a href="http://www.google.com/finance?q=sso">leveraged funds</a> or <a href="http://www.mymoneyblog.com/how-to-make-money-from-0-apr-balance-transfers">credit cards</a>. The problem with leveraged funds is <a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/35789-the-case-against-leveraged-etfs">well documented</a>.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-11550324978777168212009-03-04T14:33:00.001-08:002009-10-05T14:20:04.695-07:00Digital Photography Class: Lecture #1I started teaching a Digital Photography class with <a href="http://www.citizenschools.org/">Citizen Schools</a>. My students are 6-7th graders from a middle school in Redwood City. Class is every Wednesday 4-6PM. Let me know if anyone wants to co-teach it :-)<br /><br />Slides for 1st lecture:<br /><iframe src="http://docs.google.com/EmbedSlideshow?docid=ah2f55g9j9nb_56g2sxk2g4" frameborder="0" height="342" width="410"></iframe><a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ah2f55g9j9nb_70ccnqx9g3"></a><br /><br />Also see the <a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ah2f55g9j9nb_70ccnqx9g3">handout</a>.<br /><br /><br />Composition Class: <a href="http://blog.rickykinwong.com/2009/10/photography-composition.html">http://blog.rickykinwong.com/2009/10/photography-composition.html</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-26445646456101370962007-07-23T02:16:00.001-07:002007-07-23T07:09:17.269-07:00Exotic (Disgusting) Food -- A matter of perspective?I had dinner with a group of tourists from Switzerland last night. Many people have heard of exotic foods from China so I took this opportunity to ask my new friends about their food experience in Beijing. To my surprise I learn that they have already seen pig ears, pig stomach, duck feet's, cow heads, pig brains, jellyfish, and many other foods that will give pause to foreigners.<br /><br />My new friends were understandably disgusted. Even I myself haven't tried some of the foods that they have seen. But it got me thinking. If a Chinese tourist goes to Europe or America what would he think about the food there? (<a href="http://www.maxent.org/ch/exotic_food.html">here</a> is a good summary) Perhaps a conversation like this will take place in the future between two Chinese students in Beijing.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese student A: </span>Hey dude, check out what I got from my backpacking trip.</span><span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Chinese student B: </span>What's that...</span><span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Chinese student A: </span>Goose Liver.</span><br /><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese student B: </span>That's cool.</span><br /><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese student A: </span>It's a western delicacy.</span><br /><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese student B: </span>I see...Hey, what's that other thing?</span><br /><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese student A: </span>This is deer testicle.</span><br /><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese student B: </span>Ahh. I didn't know you're into these things...</span><br /><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese student A: </span></span><span>It's</span><span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>a western exotic food, jackass.</span><br /><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese student B: </span>and what's that?</span><br /><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese student A: </span>Bull balls.</span><br /><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese student B: </span>They actually let you into the border with this stuff?</span> <span>(maybe I should talk to the fraternity brothers about this...)</span><br /><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese student A: </span>Check this out. This is called blue cheese. The Europeans like to leave it outside the fridge because it needs to be alive.</span><br /><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese student B: </span>Holy crap! What's that smell? Your socks?</span><br /><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese student A: </span>It's suppose to be alive. Alive!</span><br /><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese student B: </span>Get that out of the house right now. This smell is lethal!</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></div><br />Some Chinese tourists will be open minded, but some would not be so open minded. Tourism is one of the best ways for two countries to understand each other at a direct, human level. There will be misunderstandings during the first visit, but I'm sure if these Chinese students travel to America few more times they would understand that some of these exotic foods are just not eaten by majority of the population, and might even come to enjoy some of them.<br /><br />Next year after Beijing Olympics you will hear stories about strange Chinese foods from people who just come back from the game. You will see pictures of pig ears on Flickr or watch dangerous Chinese highway driving on YouTube. It's natural to highlight what is different when visiting a new country. Just hope that it will only be the first of many visits by both sides.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-11374323504461547112007-07-09T00:26:00.000-07:002009-07-04T14:43:13.810-07:00Chinese Poetry and Chinese LanguageMy late grandmother, who was an educator in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Hong</span> Kong and China, used to write a poem for each of her new born grandchild. This is the one she wrote for me. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 17px; ">王观 was the original author.</span><br /><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; "><div align="center" style="line-height: 131%; "><span style="line-height: normal; font-family:Arial;"><strong style="line-height: 131%; font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> 水是眼波横,<br /> 山是眉峰聚。<br /> 欲问行人去那边? <br /> 眉眼盈盈处。</span></strong></span></div><div align="center" style="line-height: 131%; "><span style="line-height: normal; font-family:Arial;"><strong style="line-height: 131%; font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> 才始送春归, <br /> 又送君归去。<br /> 若到江南赶上春,<br /> 千万和春住。<br /> ——宋•王观《送鲍浩然之浙东》</span></strong></span></div></span></span></div><div><br /></div>Poetry can be very concise, and Chinese <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">poetry's</span> are especially so. For example, below is the original Chinese poem for Mulan, which Disney made into a movie.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;">唧唧復唧唧<br />木蘭當戶織<br />不聞機杼聲<br />唯聞女嘆息<br /><br />問女何所思<br />問女何所憶<br />女亦無所思<br />女亦無所憶<br /><br />昨夜見軍帖<br />可汗大點兵<br />軍書十二卷<br />卷卷有爺名<br /><br />阿爺無大兒<br />木蘭無長兄<br />愿為市鞍馬<br />從此替爺征<br /><br />東市買駿馬<br />西市買鞍韉<br />南市買轡頭<br />北市買長鞭<br /><br />朝辭爺娘去<br />暮宿黃河邊<br />不聞爺娘喚女聲<br />但聞黃河流水鳴濺濺<br /><br />旦辭黃河去<br />暮至黑山頭<br />不聞爺娘喚女聲<br />但聞燕山胡騎聲啾啾<br /><br />萬里赴戎機<br />關山度若飛<br />朔氣傳金柝<br />寒光照鐵衣<br /><br />將軍百戰死<br />壯士十年歸<br />歸來見天子<br />天子坐明堂<br /><br />策勛十二轉<br />賞賜百千強<br />可汗問所欲<br />“木蘭不用尚書郎<br />愿借明駝千里足<br />送兒還故鄉”<br /><br />爺娘聞女來<br />出郭相扶將<br />阿姊聞妹來<br />當戶理紅妝<br /><br />小弟聞姊來<br />磨刀霍霍向豬羊<br />"開我東閣門<br />坐我西閣床<br /><br />脫我戰時袍<br />著我舊時裳."<br />當窗理云鬢<br />對鏡貼花黃<br /><br />出門看火伴<br />火伴皆驚惶<br />同行十二年<br />不知木蘭是女郎<br /><br />“雄兔腳扑朔<br />雌兔眼迷離<br />兩兔傍地,<br />安能辨我是雄雌?”<br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The beauty (or challenge, depends on who you ask) is that individual character in Chinese has limited meaning. A chinese character is similar to a letter in english. The letter "t" has limited meaning by itself. It's the combinations of characters where ideas are formed. For example, the letters "t", "e", and "a" individually aren't too useful, but the combination "tea" has a much more tangible definition. The Chinese language has more than 85,000 characters, which in theory allows it to create more combinations than the 26 letter alphabet system. This is perfect for peotry where you want to describe a concept with less words.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yellowbridge.com/onlinelit/mulan.html">Here</a> is the original Mulan poem side by side with the english translation. Notice how the english version uses many more letters than of Chinese characters. Also Chinese characters are much more complex than english letters. Something must give if you want to cram 85,000 possible combination of symbols into the same square box.<br /></div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-52702376485088774172007-07-09T00:20:00.000-07:002007-07-09T20:22:14.489-07:00Dentist ToolsEvery time when I think that my teeth is clean my dentist will clean out all the plaque I don't realize. I'm excited that now I have my own dental mirror I can be more "proactive" in my brushing.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/Blog/photo#5084733035319413474"><img src="http://lh6.google.com/rickwong/RpCZwWvoSuI/AAAAAAAAIHo/WWx04aRqXWQ/s288/IMG_0056.jpg" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-3394966798523943852007-06-29T20:24:00.000-07:002007-06-29T20:28:19.839-07:00Miniature GolfSometimes I wonder why even the most complicated miniature golf setup in theory all you have to do is hit a straight line. Then I realize how hard it is to hit a perfect straight line.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/Blog/photo#5081691498394173330"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/rickwong/RoXLfmvoP5I/AAAAAAAAHwo/1xSo2DyX11s/s288/CIMG2853.JPG" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-82548195520472358312007-04-22T08:01:00.000-07:002007-04-22T08:07:42.214-07:00The Dollar and the Pound<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/Blog/photo#5056267478692154882"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rickwong/Rit4e4zOTgI/AAAAAAAAEew/jbDSdzo6IgM/s400/USDGBP_0407.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Just as I'm preparing my trip to Britain the US Dollar fell to a 26-year low against the pound. At the same time the Bank of England reported a 3.1% inflation (1% higher than the target 2%). That means my dollar can buy less pounds, and my pounds can buy less fish and chips. Is this a gentlemanly way to treat your guest?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-91140020967448329782007-04-06T19:38:00.000-07:002007-04-06T23:46:13.410-07:00How much is 1.5 hours worth to you?<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/Blog/photo#5050509309009193362"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rickwong/RhcDdTJL6ZI/AAAAAAAAEeY/78567R_-uMc/s400/delta_prices.JPG" /></a><br /><br />I was trying to buy a ticket to Boston today and I could either take the 7AM flight and arrive at 7:53PM or take the 8:25AM flight and still arrive at 7:53PM but at an extra $10 cost. This is equivalent to 85 minutes for $10 or $7.06 an hour compensation for being in the airport. How much would you need to get paid to spend an hour in the airport?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-77457716485158458702007-03-30T23:34:00.000-07:002007-03-31T17:44:50.769-07:00Developments in Hong Kong -- 10 Years After Reunification with ChinaA decade after reunification with China, perhaps now is a good time to take a look back. In the past 10 years, Hong Kong has survived the busting of a bubble, the 1997 Asia financial crisis, a US recession, SARS, and now finally on the road to recovery again (<a href="http://tools.google.com/gapminder/#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=0;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=6;ti=2004$zpv;v=1$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=ti;by=ind$inc_y;mmid=YCOORDS;iid=NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG;by=ind$inc_s;uniValue=9.46459412780656;iid=SP.POP.TOTL;by=universal$inc_c;uniValue=255;gid=1004;iid=SP.POP.DPND;by=grp$map_x;scale=lin;dataMin=1996;dataMax=2008$map_y;scale=lin;dataMin=-8.1364;dataMax=12$inds=HKG_tGT,,,,">Here</a> is a graph that shows how dramatic the flutuations were). To put it mildly, it was an eventful decade. It also highlights the adaptability of the Hong Kong people. I was in the city this month, and here are 12 visible developments in HK.<br /><br />The emphasis of the list are things that are observable by everyday local Hong Kong residents. This list is not ordered in any particular way. There're 12 items here because that's how many I found. So what you're seeing is completely raw and without any filtering on my part. You will see from the smallest streetside developments to broader social change. So without further delay:<br /><br /><ol><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Octopus Card</span><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongNewTerritories/photo#5043857408062520930"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9hltFJ_mI/AAAAAAAAD-U/S9SFFWSbU8A/s288/CIMG1257.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Launched in 1997, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_card">Octopus Card</a> is a rechargeable contactless smart card that is accepted at all major transportations, convience stores, <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongHongKongIsland/photo#5043857051580235106">vending machines</a>, and fastfood chains. It is used by 95% of the local population. You can even link your bank account to your Octopus Card for automatic recharge. This essentially make Hong Kong the closest cashless society in the world today. It is entirely possible to live off your Octopus Card.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongKowloon/photo#5043860367294989842"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9kR9FKBhI/AAAAAAAAENo/-EJXj7HS9m8/s288/CIMG1231.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Based on my highly non-scientific oberservation, the average Octopus Card maintains a balance of rougly 70-80HKD (10USD). I also estimate that the Octopus Card has speedup lines in bus stops by 2x.<br /></li><br /><li style="font-weight: bold;">Environmental Awareness</li>It is well known that <a href="http://www.wilsoncenter.org/events/docs/air%20pollutionenvhealth.pdf">pollution</a> in Hong Kong has gotten worse (if you're reading the presentation, pages 18, 35, and 47 are particularly chilling). The good news is that there has been increase in <a style="border-bottom-style: groove;" href="http://www.cleartheair.org.hk/">environment</a> and <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongHongKongIsland/photo#5043855775974947410">conservation awareness</a>. Hong Kong has also converted all taxis and many mini-buses to liquefied petroleum gas (propane).<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongNewTerritories/photo#5043858726617481666"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9iydFKAcI/AAAAAAAAEFE/hC1QgWldYY8/s288/CIMG1590.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongNewTerritories/photo#5043858752387285458"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9iz9FKAdI/AAAAAAAAEFM/DGluohsiqmk/s288/CIMG1591.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><li style="font-weight: bold;">Herbal Tea</li>I first discovered these in <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanKyoto/photo#5017543962719746034">Japan</a>, and realized the potential of this product. In fact, Hong Kong has even more veriety of tea than in Japan. There're all kinds of tea that is mixed with different traditional Chinese herbs.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongHongKongIsland/photo#5043857081645006210"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9hStFJ_YI/AAAAAAAAD8k/Fx0NvKfnZPs/s288/CIMG1618.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongKowloon/photo#5043862003677530962"><img src="http://lh6.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9lxNFKC1I/AAAAAAAAEYM/MyK1MhyXX6E/s288/CIMG1730.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongKowloon/photo#5043862063807073154"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9l0tFKC4I/AAAAAAAAEYk/EtilprCv-Uk/s288/CIMG1734.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongKowloon/photo#5043861028719953858"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9k4dFKB8I/AAAAAAAAERA/9zXVhC9NMCw/s288/CIMG1663.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/Macao/photo#5043860079532180770"><img src="http://lh6.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9kBNFKBSI/AAAAAAAAEL0/ttAwH-YWKpg/s288/CIMG1788.JPG" /></a><br /><br />The last picture is from Macao. It shows that this product is already expanding.<br /><br /><li style="font-weight: bold;">HKID</li>The new <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Identity_Card">Hong Kong Identity Card</a> is state of the art. The most impressive aspect is that it allows quicker entry to Macao and mainland China. You insert the HKID card into a machine at the terminal, and a gate would open to let you enter. The whole process is completely self-served and takes about 10 seconds.<br /><br /><li style="font-weight: bold;">MTR</li>MTR is a partly government owned, pulic subway company in Hong Kong (which also has <a href="http://www.octopus.com.hk/images/picture/en/cmp_popup_cstructure.gif">over 50% ownership</a> of the company that operates Octopus Card). Other than more lines were added to MTR in the past 10 years, two visible changes are 1) safety glass that separates the track from the platform, and 2) TV screens with advertisements on the track replacing bill-boards.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongKowloon/photo#5043860771021915922"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9kpdFKBxI/AAAAAAAAEPo/fohuUWMqoWQ/s288/CIMG1541.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><li style="font-weight: bold;">Buses</li>All buses are now air conditioned with TV screens (advertisements included).<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongKowloon/photo#5043860496144008802"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9kZdFKBmI/AAAAAAAAEOQ/QGRytVCpH0o/s288/CIMG1259.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><li style="font-weight: bold;">International Finance Centre</li><a style="border-bottom-style: groove;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IFC%2C_Hong_Kong">IFC</a> is the latest tallest building in Hong Kong, but like many things in Hong Kong this is just temperary. The new <a style="border-bottom-style: groove;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Square_%28Hong_Kong%29">Union Square</a> will be the next tallest in 2010.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongKowloon/photo#5043861990792629058"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9lwdFKC0I/AAAAAAAAEYE/VFE2RbtZZ8A/s288/CIMG1811.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><li style="font-weight: bold;">Moving Street Markets Off the Street</li>The government has also moved a lot of street markets and food cart vendors off the streets into real shops. People still refer to them as "Street Markets" though.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongKowloon/photo#5043860478964139602"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9kYdFKBlI/AAAAAAAAEOI/JKAwg7vMTFI/s288/CIMG1239.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><li style="font-weight: bold;">Mobile Phones</li>Hong Kong is a place with more mobile phones than people. Reason is that a lot of people have more than one cellphone, either to get the latest model or one for going to mainland China. You can also send SMS in Chinese, which is actually not too hard to do.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongHongKongIsland/photo#5043856347205598194"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9gn9FJ-_I/AAAAAAAAD5Y/b5y_cXU1f78/s288/CIMG1546.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><li style="font-weight: bold;">Eletronic Coupon Machines</li>I found these coupon machines in a grocery store. You can swipe your club card and it will print out today's coupons for you.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongHongKongIsland/photo#5043857098824875410"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9hTtFJ_ZI/AAAAAAAAD8s/y5biIDD6APg/s288/CIMG1619.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><li style="font-weight: bold;">Street Light Machines</li>All street lights are converted into touch based machines instead of the old mechanical button.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongNewTerritories/photo#5043858683667808674"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9iv9FKAaI/AAAAAAAAEE0/mD8lqwf_Wmw/s288/CIMG1588.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><li style="font-weight: bold;">Integration with Mainland China</li>Hong Kong now regularly broadcast TV programs in mandarin. Everyday hundreds of people from mainland China come to Hong Kong either on tour or on business. Likewise, many people in Hong Kong travel to China each day. There's also regular ferry going between Hong Kong and many other cities in southern China. It's clear that <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_22/b3935017.htm">integration</a> is happening at many levels.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/Macao/photo#5043859143229309650"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rickwong/Rf9jKtFKAtI/AAAAAAAAEHM/xEnBfHd7pPY/s288/CIMG1739.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /></ol>References:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=15883188&postID=3642187458394416358#%20http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongHongKongIsland">http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongHongKongIsland</a></li><li><a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=15883188&postID=3642187458394416358#%20http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongNewTerritories">http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongNewTerritories</a></li><li><a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=15883188&postID=3642187458394416358#%20http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongKowloon">http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/HongKongKowloon</a></li><li><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/Macao">http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/Macao</a></li></ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-89586130540922745462007-01-26T15:01:00.000-08:002007-01-28T14:42:12.065-08:00Japan -- A travel guide for the common people.I was in Japan for the first time ever over New Year. Now I don't speak Japanese. I've also heard stories about how expensive Japan is. So if you're in a similar situation here are somethings that might be useful to you.<br /><ul><li>The good news is that although people in Japan don't speak English they can read English fairly well. There was this one time we were in a <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">restaurant</span> and we wanted to order beef. I first tried drawing (with no luck), then writing the word 'beef' (with some success). They finally understand us when I wrote the word 'cow'. Unfortunately, after going through all that they told us that they don't serve beef... The lesson is that English words are okay, but no <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">pictionary</span>. (Note: You can also try writing in Chinese.)</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/Tokyo1/photo#5018668947040894514"><img src="http://lh6.google.com/image/rickwong/RaXk0Tmn_jI/AAAAAAAAB9w/qU1BtquwXr8/s288/cimg0576.jpg" /></a></div><ul><li>A lot of <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">restaurants</span> have plastic food displays outside. Another strategy that I discovered is to take a picture before going inside, and then point at the dish on my camera's LCD screen when ordering food. Basically I can make my own picture menu.</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanTokyo2/photo#5017547020736461282"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rickwong/RaHobmbQ-eI/AAAAAAAABcI/PgCabSfFqTE/s288/CIMG1069.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanKoyasan/photo#5018671962107938210"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rickwong/RaXnjzmoBaI/AAAAAAAACMk/EinzAkCuDMs/s288/DSCF0148.JPG" /></a></div><ul><li>Even if the above two strategies don't work, there's still one way. In Japan <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">there's</span> vending machine in almost every block of every street. You can find a lot of them in Tokyo, and also sometimes in the middle of nowhere. The vending machines sell everything. I saw vending machines that sell hot coffee, beer, cigarettes, and even <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">ramen</span>.</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanTokyo2/photo#5017547768060771314"><img src="http://lh6.google.com/image/rickwong/RaHpHGbQ-_I/AAAAAAAABeM/DqBsJsvRAGw/s288/CIMG1121.JPG" /></a><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanKoyasan/photo#5018670321430430162"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rickwong/RaXmETmoAdI/AAAAAAAACE4/FaMfa5Ky5m8/s288/CIMG0717.JPG" /></a><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/Tokyo1/photo#5018666967060969698"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rickwong/RaXjBDmn-OI/AAAAAAAABzI/V_QjwGzWbfU/s288/cimg0352.jpg" /></a><br /></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>As for saving money, get a JR Pass. You get unlimited rides on the JR with this pass. I believe you can order one before you land in Japan.<br /></li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanKoyasan/photo#5018671682935063778"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rickwong/RaXnTjmoBOI/AAAAAAAACLA/PSsH8nJUNSs/s288/cimg0591.jpg" /></a><br /></div><ul><li>The second good news is that Japan isn't that expensive anymore. Due to long period of deflation the prices in Japan has come down to within range of other major international cities. That is not to say that you can't spend a lot of money in Tokyo because you can still do that. (Click on the picture to find out how much this noodle costs me.)</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/Tokyo1/photo#5018666984240838898"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rickwong/RaXjCDmn-PI/AAAAAAAABzQ/E7uGgUOGB6A/s288/cimg0353.jpg" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">References:</span><br />Here are some things that you can do on a low budget,<br /><a href="http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/01/13/10-things-to-do-for-free/">http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/01/13/10-things-to-do-for-free/<br /></a><a href="http://www.tokyoessentials.com/free.html">http://www.tokyoessentials.com/free.html<br /></a><a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?country_id=104&x=2&y=10">http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?country_id=104&x=2&y=10<br /></a><br />My Japan Pictures:<br /><a style="border-bottom-style: groove;" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanTokyoMeijiShrine">http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanTokyoMeijiShrine<br /></a><a style="border-bottom-style: groove;" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanTokyo2">http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanTokyo2<br /></a><a style="border-bottom-style: groove;" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanRyokan">http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanRyokan<br /></a><a style="border-bottom-style: groove;" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanKyoto">http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanKyoto<br /></a><a style="border-bottom-style: groove;" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanKoyasan">http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanKoyasan<br /></a><a style="border-bottom-style: groove;" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanTokyoYoyogiPark">http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/JapanTokyoYoyogiPark<br /></a><a style="border-bottom-style: groove;" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/Tokyo1">http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/Tokyo1<br /></a><br />Picture album from Linus (not only is he much better at taking pictures than me, he also speaks some Japanese and brought a phrase book with him, which saved us many times):<br /><a style="border-bottom-style: groove;" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/ldwong">http://picasaweb.google.com/ldwong<br /></a><br />Tony Chang blogs about his Japan experience:<br /><a style="border-bottom-style: groove;" href="http://idealisms.livejournal.com/240397.html">http://idealisms.livejournal.com/240397.html</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-1160559475862106102006-10-11T02:34:00.000-07:002007-02-22T14:42:58.414-08:00Hyderabad, India -- The Old and New.I was in India last month for work. Since it was my first time in India I tried to learn as much about the country as I can. So I did what any respectable blogger would do the first thing they land in a new country: I watched the local pop-music TV channel :)<br /><br />Without question pop-culture in India has traces of western influence, and yet India has maintained a lot of it's traditional culture. For example it's common to see a large group dancing in synchrony (whereas pop music in the United States tends to emphasize individualism). Traditional Indian clothing is also everywhere, not just in music videos, but also out in the streets, and in the workplace. The result is an interesting blend of east and west.<br /><br />(One a side note, for a good Bollywood movie I recommend the original <a style="border-bottom-style: groove;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholay">Sholay</a> with <a style="border-bottom-style: groove;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amitabh_Bachchan" title="Amitabh Bachchan">Amitabh Bachchan</a>.)<br /><br />The blending of east and west extends beyond music. McDonald's spicy chicken curry burger and Domino renaming buffalo wings to chicken wings are both excellent examples.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/IndiaHyderabad/photo#5032592097812808530"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rickwong/Rddb2WGSA1I/AAAAAAAAChk/6V6QgjCT3L8/s288/CIMG0211.JPG" /></a><br /></div><br />Buffalo means "dark cow" in India, and cows are considered as religious. They're respected, and aren't part of the diet. Renaming Buffalo Wings to chicken wings avoids any misunderstanding.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/IndiaHyderabad/photo#5032592183712154514"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rickwong/Rddb7WGSA5I/AAAAAAAACiE/5yKcTawzqzo/s288/CIMG0223.JPG" /></a><br /></div><br />Of course there're things that at first seem odd to me. Most tourist destinations have different prices for "Indians" and "Non Indians". Using pricing structures to charge different prices for different groups is not new (e.g. discount movie tickets for students and seniors), but having a sign that reads Indians vs Non-Indians is rather blunt. Local people I've met are generally nice to foreigners, and the prices definitely don't reflect any animosity towards tourists. The tourism industry can use some better marketing writing though.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/IndiaHyderabad/photo#5032591367668367714"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rickwong/RddbL2GSAWI/AAAAAAAACds/nQZB-H0QuFM/s288/CIMG0165.JPG" /></a><br /></div><br />Gate to the 400 year old Charminar, Hyderabad.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/IndiaHyderabad/photo#5032591436387844498"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rickwong/RddbP2GSAZI/AAAAAAAACeE/7FpfsrGF8p8/s288/CIMG0176.JPG" /></a><br /></div><br />Gate to the 4 year old hi-tech city. Also in Hyderabad.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rickwong/IndiaHyderabad/photo#5032591251704250642"><img src="http://lh6.google.com/image/rickwong/RddbFGGSARI/AAAAAAAACdE/llQv0qJBZmI/s288/CIMG0158.JPG" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15883188.post-1155705642267447442006-08-15T21:29:00.000-07:002006-11-26T17:31:38.120-08:00So you want to take the CFA Exam?A few people have asked me about how to study for the CFA Exam. Here is my list in hindsight.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1) Official books.</span><br />You should at least read the ethics part of the book. This part of the book is also on the CFA website in a pdf file, but I would get the books in physical form for reference just in case. You might need them in level 2 and level 3.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />2) Schweser notes.</span> Get them. I have no experience with Stalla's study notes.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3) Schweser Audio CDs.</span><br />If you spend 25 minutes commuting each day, 5 days a week, that's 1.5 hours of extra studying you're getting. Given that you probably have to spend 10 hours studying each week, so either you get some of it out of your commute or you get it out of your free time. Your choice.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4) Schweser Practice Exams.</span><br />The scheweser notes already give you 3, but this set is different. They are also slightly harder than the real exams. There's also a free CFA assessment exam on their website. I took about 4-5 schweser exams total.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />5) CFA official practice online exam.</span> I only took one, but it doesn't hurt to take more.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />6) Sign up for a CFA prep class.</span><br />There're 2 reasons for doing this: 1) a class puts you into a structured study schedule. You will know just by going to class that you're behind or ahead, and exactly how many sections of the book you have to read to catchup. You don't want to be in a situation where you're 2 weeks before the exam and then realize that you're only half way done with the books. 2) You get to meet other students in the class. Unless you know everything about every aspect of finance, you will probably learn something from other students. If nothing else, there's always the professional networking aspect...<br /><br />My class was offered by the local analyst society (<a href="http://sasf.org" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">sasf.org</a>), and if you don't have a local society, both Stalla and Scheweser also have courses that you can take. I don't have experience with their classes, but if I have to choose I probably would pick Stalla's class just to get a feel of the style between Stalla and Scheweser. You can also match the study notes with the prep class if you want.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7) Find a study group, or even better form one.</span><br />I found mine from a free service offered by <a href="http://sasf.org" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">sasf.org</a>. You can also find other people on <a href="http://www.analystforum.com">www.analystforum.com</a>. How intense of a group is completely a matter of style, some people prefer a regular weekly group, and others just want a loosely connected online group.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />8) Use the HP 12C Platinum calculator.</span><br />The TI calculator is easier to use, but the HP one is better once you get used to it. I would get the HP one because you're going to take level 2 and level 3 anyway so might as well put in the effort now. If you're getting the HP 12C, make sure you get the Platinum model. This newer model is much faster when you're doing intensive calculations (e.g. IRR).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9) Start EARLY! You can do it.<br /></span>I'm not from a finance background so I had to spend total about 200-300 hours. Look, we're all busy, driven people, and you're going to make some time sacrifices, but you can make the smart ones. Hopefully this list helps you do just that.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01436298390876766208noreply@blogger.com11