We don't need new hand-free accessory every few months, do we?

But look at now. Nokia comes out with a new model every 3 months, and there are different ranges of mobile phones – the N series, the E series, the normal 6000s series, etc. If you take into consideration the models from other companies such as LG, Samsung, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson, there are easily more than 10 models for a particular price range. Consumers are simply spoilt for choice – which, is creating a new market for the reviewers since they are helping people to test our stuff and help consumers make their decisions.

This is not really a bad thing for the consumer. Problem is, with a new model every 3 months, the value of the current model will drop and drop FAST. It’s as if the attention span or life span of the model has becoming shorter, unlike many years ago where there will only be a new model every 6 to 9 months. Buying a N85 soon? Expect the price to drop for at least 30-50% 1 year later.

And with the attention span of products getting shorter, the money spent in the R & D and development of the new models will increase – thus, cutting down the profit margin. To me, this kind of market is becoming a bloody red ocean where competitors are fighting with each other in terms of price and technology. There will never be a big winner in such a situation.

But maybe, just maybe, companies involved in this kind of war should stop and look at what consumers really want. Why do I say this? Well, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and other phone companies have been fighting for so many years………but when the newbie Apple came in with their IPhone, they managed to dominate a large chunk of the market share.

Why? Because Apple realizes a few things when it comes to catching the consumers’ heart.

• Consumers don’t need, and most don’t want to change the item to a newer version every 3 months unless it’s free.
• Consumers hate seeing the value of their item drop so much within a short period of time.
• Consumers want items which have longer attention span and not some items which are bought and forgotten within a month’s time.
• Consumers want good quality stuff.

Maybe companies should start realizing the above points and give the consumers something SPECIAL. No point fighting with each other and neglect what the consumers really want. Because in the end, people will just ignore you and your war, and go to the one which gives them the best.

P/S…. i will be away to Bangkok for project deployment (finally!!) from Sunday until Wednesday. Thus, I might not be able to update the blog regularly at that time.

Even to this date, people are still arguing which is right or wrong. For example, one might say that this politician is wrong, or that marketer is not doing it the right way, or this movie sux or that song rocks. It never ends but one thing for sure, everyone has their own opinions on things. Or do they really have their “own” opinions on things?

Imagine this. You go to a meeting with a business proposal. You presented it to everyone and said that this is the direction your company should move towards to. And surprisingly, all your shareholders or directors agreed! Well done mate! You can now continue to walk (or run) down the path of self-destruction. Why? Because when people agree with you, it doesn’t mean you are right as in “RIGHT”. You might be wrong but due to the limited knowledge of those people around you, they would think you are right. Bring someone from another background in, and you might have a different result altogether.

That’s why the right or wrong argument really depends on the context or the knowledge a person has. If all this while, I only know that the chicken comes before the egg…then i will certainly stand by that case when someone comes arguing with me whether the chicken comes first or the egg comes first. Because at the end of the day, that’s the only thing i know and have stood by for all these years!

And that is also why, in order for us to avoid making a fool out of ourselves by declaring that Earth is flat……we should try to educate ourselves more. Read more, Google more, watch more documentaries and news……and hopefully that we’ll be able to associate that one thing with many different contexts. AND AND AND, hopefully we can say which is right and which is not.

And to think that they actually did not spend that much to organize such an event….it really made me respect them more. They (the Singapore organizers) are willing to take the chance and be something different. If you’re talking about street circuit, there’s already one in Montreal. But that’s during daytime. This is at night time…with the wonderful night scenery surrounding the circuit. It’s beautiful.

I’m not sure how much they’ve spent but it should be significantly lower, considering the fact that it’s a street circuit and they’re reusing what they already have………….rather than building a brand new circuit located far far away with some isolated part of the world (hint).

The thing we all can learn here is that, sometimes it does pay off to be different. You don’t need to follow the main trend of the world. If people are making mobile phones, then be different and make a mobile phone which is the thinnest in the world and yet it contains the most functionalities (IPhone). Or if people are downloading MP3 illegally, then create something which will encourage them not to download (rather than going to the court)…something cheap…something which enables users to search for 1 song and buy just that 1 song (ITune).

Most of us do not like changes….but without changes, there’s no way we can be different. And in times like this, being different might be the only way for you to be successful. Or should I say, be different and remarkable?

So, what are you waiting for? Open up your creative mind. Be different in your business or in your life.

Now, let’s just hope you don’t go out wearing nothing in shopping complexes……and accuse me of polluting your innocent mind.

I went to fetch my sister from the KLIA at 11.30pm, 15 Sept 2008. And on my way back to PJ, I was shocked to see that there was a police road block right in front of me. It happened not far from the junction to KLIA, on the busy NKVE highway.

And I was on the fast lane.

And I was very tired.

Fortunately for me, my sister’s bf who was sitting next to me, warned me about the road block because he saw the police car’s “blue light” (you know, the one at the top…whatever it is called) and also noticed some of the cars slowing down.

To be honest, I didn’t notice. But thanks to him, I managed to slow down from around 100 km/h to 0… without using ABS.

And he immediately told me to switch lane to the middle lane (it was a 3 lane highway) because some drivers might not have noticed the road block and it was very dark at that time. He used to be in the sales line…so he used to drive a lot.

There were a lot of police cars and, of course, policemen. They were targetting trucks. And when it reached my turn, the policeman asked me to go to the emergency lane. =_= And this was the first time I was being stopped by a policeman. It started off like this:

Police : Encik, bagi lesen.

Me : *hand over my lesen* Untuk apa ni?

Police : Security check.

Me : HAR ???

Police : Tadi pandu berapa?

Me : Tak lebih 110 pun.

Police using walkie-talkie to ask “Eh, ini kereta kena?”

Police : You datang dari mana?

Me : KLIA (with the super annoyed look)

Police stunned, started using walkie-talkie and said to the walkie-talkie “You pasti ini nombor **** ada masuk ke?”

Police came back, hand over my license and asked me to go.

=_=”"”"”"”"

I have nothing to fear since I never drive more than speed limit. Hahahhaa. And it was not even at the Shah Alam area where the speed limit is 90km/h.

And I have no idea what the heck are they doing, blocking the highway at such ungodly hour. Don’t they know how dangerous that is? Dangerous for them and for the drivers! My gosh. Hopefully there’s no accident last night. If they stopped people at the Shah Alam area, then it might not be that bad because if you use ABS at 90 km/h ….you still have chance to avoid banging the fella in front. 60 km/h is the safest of course. But 110..?

I doubt.

Mm…or they’re busy catching robbers and thieves? I’m not sure about that but they do seem pretty free in this picture.

Courtesy of The Star newspaper

I know Ops Warta 1 is a very useful operation (yes, catch all those traffic offenders esp those who do not want to pay!)…… but…..do they really need sooooooooooo many traffic policemen standing there? At least 5 of them were in the photo.

I think there could be more outside the photo =_=”

I know the guy in the blue shirt is most probably a very important person…… but ……isn’t so many traffic policemen a little bit…too much?

Or they’re just there for the photograph and the publicity? Hmmm

More info on the Ops Warta can be found here – http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/12/nation/2010098&sec=nation

We’re not sure when will this take effect and we’re also not sure WHICH (Kepong toll, Penchala, Sprint, etc etc) toll rate will be reduced. But considering the fact that most (if not all) of the concessionaires involved are considered “private companies”…..I doubt they will reduce the rates that easily.

More money is always better for them. No?

But there IS progress, as stated in the article. It’s slow…that’s why we should just wait for it to happen (provided it does happen in the future). Let’s be patience (or more like keep your fingers crossed).

And about this – “Some of the companies even used the petrol price increase as a reason to refuse the drop in toll rates, according to a source.” I thought that’s the reason why everyone hopes the toll rate will go down? To minimize the “damage” done by the petrol price hike?

If they don’t reduce, people would rather “suffer” in the LRT.

Furthermore, increase in petrol price does not mean lesser income for them. For example, ever since the petrol price hike, PENCHALA LINK has seen more and more cars because it’s a shorter route. Using a longer route = higher petrol usage = more expensive. So people would rather pay for the toll to use the shorter route.

Ah well, guess too much uncertainties in this. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s no toll rate reduction at all. We’ll just have to play the waiting game AGAIN.

What bout Human Resource recruiter (headhunters are not tied to the company and the company’s work culture)? Impression is also very important. It gives the candidate a brief “look” at how your company works.

Few years ago, a HR recruiter of a Singaporean company called me for interview. Prior to the call, I was pretty interested in what the company was doing at that time. But after the call, I turned down. Why? Because called me twice – 9pm on 1 day, and 10pm on another day. On the second occasion, she thought I was a new candidate.

And just recently, another recruiter called me. I was very very interested in the job description actually (no, I didn’t apply) but I turned it down anyway. Why? Because she called me at 11.30pm.

The good thing is that these HR recruiters did not try to hide the fact their respective company’s work culture is to work until very late. It’ll be much worse if you go to a new company, ONLY to realize that their work culture doesn’t suit you.

Still, it is also undeniable that……they were scaring the candidates off by calling the candidates at such ungodly hour.

So if you’re a recruiter, try to call the potential candidates at around 6-7pm. I think that’s the best timing to call.

Remember, first impression is very important.

And today, I saw a news article from the UK regarding a real Lizardman. I got curious and started looking for information in Google (and yeah, I was pretty stressed…that’s why i wanted to find something to release stress).

If you’re into fantasy-based world such as Role-playing games…..then the term “Lizardman” might not be new to you. But the Lizardman which all of us fantasy-lovers know….. is this

Lizardman (wizards.com)

But when I googled for the “real world” lizardman……..i found this….. and he looks pretty scary.

Real-world Lizardman (thekamikaze.com)

Hmm….after looking at this celebrity (yes…he HAS become quite a famous person in the entertainment industry =_=)……i somehow feel that our very own CICAKMAN looks better. =_=

Cicakman of Malaysia (www.sungguh.com)

At least, our RED (why is he red ? Got red cicak meh?) cicakman looks cooler than this

Funny Lizardman (columbiaadclub.com)

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said if world market prices for fuel remained stable at US$109 for the rest of the year, Malaysians might even enjoy a 15 sen drop below the current rate of RM2.55.

“We will have to wait until the pump prices are revised come Oct 1 or by the middle of that month under our calculation formula.

“If world prices remain at US$109 per barrel until the end of the year, we can reduce prices by another 15 sen.

Rest assure. The experts are actually estimate an average of US$80-110 by the end of the year. The hurricane Gustav has hit the US but the price has not gone up. This shows that the world still has a lottttttttt of crude oil.

This is indeed a very good news for all. The issue now is…how much would the cut be. Will 15 sen be enough? For me…well, it’s better than nothing.

Read more here – Petrol prices may drop in October.

And there are also not many people who dare to say “Sorry” when he/she screwed up.

Few days ago, an ex-colleague of mine messaged me in MSN to complain about something which has happened to her that day. Her teammate, a senior, received an email from their UK project manager. The email was quite an unpleasant one. From the first paragraph until the last paragraph, the manager was complaining about my friend – about her being unprofessional, unwilling to do her job, attitude problem, etc. My friend was quite angry and disappointed with the email because she did not do anything like that. It does look like she’s been made a scapegoat. So i told her to seek advice from the senior and the team leader in Malaysia, to see if they’re behind her in this. Fortunately, they are because all her emails to the UK were screened by the seniors before reaching the UK side. Well, for now, the sea has become calmer…..everything has settled down, though my friend was still badly hurt by that email.

The UK side has stopped complaining…but, no apologies whatsoever from the UK side after that.

On another unrelated incident, I was helping another colleague from UK also (such a coincidence eh?) to check something…and i even helped to complete some of his stuff …….. But no “thank you” whatsoever and he did sound quite rude in the emails. Maybe it was a miscommunication? But one thing for sure, I wasn’t pleased at all.

I mean, what’s wrong with this people? Will a simple “I’m sorry” or “Thank you” kill them or rob their jobs from them? I doubt.

Nowadays, more and more people are missing basic courtesy. People are just too busy with their own stuff and too pissed with their own jobs or own life…….that they cannot stop to notice that actually, there are people out there who are helping them…….or to stop and notice that, they are indeed, wrong in certain things.

So, slow down a little every now and then…….look around…….and maybe, just maybe, you’ll notice that there is indeed someone who has been helping you. Say “thank you” to him/her.

Or….maybe, there are certain things which you’ve done wrongly. Say “sorry” to those concerned.

It will make them feel better, and who knows, it might make you feel better too.

p/s…….. to my friend’s boss, thank you for replying to that stupid email from UK. And to the UK colleague, thank you for becoming a victim in my blog.