韩国碎事一二三

很多韩国人一看我都认为我是韩国 人. 在路上还有人上来问路. 我只能无奈地摇摇头用英文说我不懂韩语. 我和同事描述这事儿, 他们马上就说 “你看起来象韩国人”….晕死.

看到一辆粉红色的Hyundai Sonata.

和同事去拜访客户, 从首尔开车向南开一号公路, 竟然看到一辆美军军用运输车和一辆捍马抛锚 – 发动机打开了正在检修.

出门在外赶国际航班, 提前一个小时到机场还是第一次.  五点整从首尔飞旧金山的飞机, 我两点五十才从公司出发. 从公司到机场要一个小时的车程.  上了车, 我问司机懂不懂英语, 他竖起小指头尖, 意思就是”一点点”. 我用英文说我五点的飞机, 要尽快, 这哥们竟然也听懂了, 一路飙起来.  因为走的太急, 我没有机会换便装, 索性在出租车里换衣服. 到了一个红灯, 正赶上我脱下衬衣光着膀子., 这的哥回头看了我一眼, 乐呵呵地比划说我有胸肌, 我心想周围等红灯的车里有没有人看到我在大白天耍流氓.

车开了一会, 这的哥突然又吐出一句 “World Cup”, 我用英文说”是啊, 下周, 你会给韩国加油吧?” 没想到这哥门竟然听懂了. 用韩语喊了一句”韩国队!”, 没想到我也听懂了! 语言这东西, 真是挺有意思.

出租车在高速公路上飙驰, 我看到路边有个不大的鱼塘, 有那么十几个人不远一个地蹲在那里钓鱼. 这本来也没什么, 可是从高速公路上看过去. 好象是十几个人一起蹲着上公共厕所, 我想这要是真的, 场面也够壮观的.

首尔国际机场从主楼到登机楼的地下电车竟然有雨刷.

美国人? 中国人?

在韩国坐出租车的时候, 当司机发现我不是韩国人后, 懂英语的有时会好奇的问我一句 “America? China?”  就是问我是美国来的还是中国来的.

在我回答之前, 我的脑海总是有短暂的停顿. 我生活在美国, 工作在美国,  到韩国出差是来自美国, 所以说我是美国来的, 理所当然. 可是从另外一个角度看, 我是中国出生长大的, 看起来也是中国人(虽然常被韩国人误认为他们自己人), 所以回答说我是来自中国也没错 (就象黎明的那首”我来自北京”).

半秒钟的停顿, 我总是回答 “America”, 然后多少还有一点愧疚的感觉, 因为我没有选择”中国”.  我的潜意识做了一个选择, 在中国和美国之间, 我选择了美国. 我忽然想问自己, 有没有一天, 我会很骄傲而自豪地说我是来自中国呢?

DSLR Time Lapse of a Space Shuttle Launch

Apple's Revenue Source

Apple's Revenue Source.

Worst Parking Job Ever

The point of this video is to say BMW X5 is a real SUV with German horsepower under the hood...

联想的"乐phone"真的能乐起来吗?

说话难听点, 损一下联想的"乐phone"吧.

最近看到联想花大力气(就是花钱贝)给最新的乐phone做宣传, 满天的中文网都有相关报道. 联想信誓旦旦地要和iPhone挑战. 首先要说的是, 这一个竞争目标定得好 - 要比就比最好的. 勇气可加, 也有志气.

可是话说回来, "乐phone"实在是有点雷人. 外观设计有够丑, 这也就算了, 连软体平台都落后. 现在新出的ANDROID手机都用2.1了, "乐phone"还用1.6呢 (而且还没上市), 虽然以后会升级, 可是起步就落后了. 用ANDROID做平台, 并不是没有代价的. 软件的核心技术在谷歌手上, 也要服从开放平台的合同要求. 再谈"乐phone"这个名字.  就联想这么大的一个公司, 主打的产品竟然和对手的名字类似, 走出大门在国际市场上就有抄袭的嫌疑, 这不是天生就挂着"山寨"的味道吗, 走到哪里都一股土味, 没有创新.

好的宣传, 有的时候能把死的说成活的. 可是电子产品不能只靠呼悠. 苹果在6个月内在大中国市场卖了近两百万部iPhone, "乐phone"在六个月内如果能卖超过六十万只我就败服.

No More "The Next iPhone" Story, Please

I feel I've had enough of this "Gizmodo-got-the-next-iPhone" story.  Too much already!

I couldn't stop reading news from geek blogs, but there is so much news, redundant news, about the "next iPhone" and how the poor software engineer lost it and how he could also loose his career.  Gizmodo and media, please, stop.

Here is the problem, although I was one of the people who jumped into the link once I learned the next iPhone was leaked, the consequence is the exposure stole the show from Apple and Steve Jobs.  Apple fans will pay for this sentimentally later, I guarantee it.

Apple and their engineers are sometimes called "magicians".  They are good at controlling the release of their products air-tight.  You see, that is the beauty of this game.  They create the curiosity, they build the hype, then they release it with a bang during the Mac World events.  The speculation and secrecy form a big magnet that draw people's attentions (and stock prices, but I'm not a AAPL holder), The release of their product creates the "Wow" factor, on the day of the event, NOT before that.

Imagine yourself attending a circus/magic show.  If someone tells you what magic will be performed by the magicians and how exactly they would do the trick by revealing all the secrets in the magicians' toolbox right before the show, would you still have the same amount of enthusiasm and excitement when you watch it?  How about knowing the final score before watching a soccer or basketball game? I know I would not.

People in general agree that revealing magician's trick is un-ethical, so I would argue that Gizmodo's release of the new iPhone is also unethical (and perhaps even not legal).  For the least, they should have put a "Spoiler Alert" on the title.  But they won't, of course - It's all about money.  They paid five grands for it, so they need to get it back and make more money and create more publicity.  Indeed, they have achieved the goal.  The traffic at their server was so high that they had to shut down the comment feature to maintain accessability.  Gizmodo has done it...at the expense of stealing thunder from Steve Jobs in two months and the excitement from some Apple fanboys.

The highly speculated and anticipated Apple product-announcement was suppose to be the biggest bang in 2010.  If what Gizmodo claimed was NOT the next iPhone when Apple announce it (which I kind of wish at this moment, although the possibility is small), Giz will become a loser in this game.  However, if the phone is what it is intended to be, instead of saying "we got a new iPhone for you" by Jobs, he would have to say "we're ready to put the prototype you saw a couple of months ago into mass production".  You see, that's NOT Apple.  That's not their game, not in the tech world anyways.

So this is where I'm disappointed.  Yes, I chose to see what the next iPhone look like. Now I kinda wish I didn't make that choice.  I like to watch the show from Apple, from Jobs, without knowing what would be unwrapped during the show.  I wonder if someone else shares the same opinion as I do, or am I the only person in this world that wants to stop reading more news about the upcoming iPhone?