This, That and Other Stuff

A mission for Health Care revision

Henry — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:20:21 +0000

I have decided to secretly start a mission to change the US health care industry and hopefully make a buck somewhere along the way or maybe just have a quick rant. First off, things are ridiculously expensive, from the tuition costs to obtain a degree to simply seeing a dermatologist for a routine mole removal or did somebody say uninsured broken arm?

Regardless of what it is or where it is, something needs to be done to improve this system. For me to get a good health plan (non inclusive of dental) we’re talking $400-500 / month. With dental? Forget about it! Small businesses cannot always afford health insurance for their employees, nor do most people work for companies offering health insurance. Unemployed? Part time? etc…

To cut to the chase, our nation needs to value us as individual and entrepreneurial economic actors in a more intelligent way. If individuals are in good health, they are in better shape, both physical and mental, thus logically leading to more productive capacities. More work = more money = more tax revenue! So perhaps the government could find better ways to subsidize and limit the costs. Why is it so hard to be a nurse!? (not enough schools)

Doctors need to be honest and have more than that as an incentive to practice medicine in an efficient and morally correct manor. They get paid more to conduct more tests… Was your right foot broken? Then why did you get your left foot x rayed (oh, we were just making sure it was ok said the Doctor). This is not to say that doctors are not some of the most giving, intelligent and moral individuals.

To be continued…

Screw “Microhoo”

Henry — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:26:18 +0000

I am pretty confident that the Microsoft takeover of Yahoo may not be the option. The one being that Yahoo is a big organization and does not seem to eager to get bought up by its rival Microsoft. The clash of cultures reminds of the one I read about in the Paypal Wars when X.com and Paypal were joined.

I definitely think that Microsoft is right to spend its war chest on key acquisitions, but Yahoo is a big risk with not enough of a reward proposition. On the other hand, when using AIM pro, I saw what Microsoft needed… AOL! Microsoft buy AOL from Time Warner (or a substantial stake) is a much better move. It would be much cheaper than Yahoo, and present a large range of upsides. There is much less of a culture clash and way less risk involved in such a deal. Furthermore, it could ensure that Google would not intervene, since it can’t do anything with Yahoo.

Microsoft will be able to integrate its business services into many of AOL’s products notably all versions of AIM.The combination of these services will be extremely innovative and strengthen both companies’ current service offerings.

Blackberry Freakout

Henry — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 06:22:01 +0000

I Survived the Blackberry outage of January 2008. Fortunately, I was on a plane during the outage, because otherwise who knows what I may have done, maybe even gone to an internet cafe- Starbucks if need be! Even before boarding the flight I could tell something was in the air. People were even more focused on their Blackberry phone, even shaking it up and down to see if it was something with the phone. Then after a few moments, maybe with a pause where they set it down on the table trying to think of more pleasent thoughts and deciding to use more drastic measures, they shut off the phone for a minute if they were even that patient.

My flight was called and I boarded the plane where the birth of a frenzy was paused. When I got off the plane the outage appeared to have disappeared, people looked at their phones with some satisfaction (ah at last I receive email), followed by dissatisfaction (shit, I really have to do this!?), then satisfaction again (but at least I can take care of this reply now).

This was too good to be true, and as people were waiting for their baggage, the outage had a more profound effect as people realized that the network was still bugging and that this intolerable disconnectedness deprived us and I am not sure how much longer we can last…

I am writing to you now from safety in front of my computer, so you know that I have been connected, but there are still some out there in the middle of the Blackberry freakout.

Sarkozy, a Kennedy without the looks

Henry — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:05:48 +0000

Being in a different country shields one from the every day news in other countries. So, when I opened my msn messenger, which gives me French news, and the MSN pop out news of the day was Carla Bruni and Nicholas Sarkozy travel to Egypt together, I had to make sure that I was reading right. I had not even known that he had divorced his wife, who was already pretty good looking for a guy like Sarkozy. It surprised me that I had not heard about any of these stories, considering the controversy of a divorce in a historically catholic country.

Regardless, Nicholas Sarkozy is more and more of a jetsetter, which was not expected from the guy who was supposed to be the Giuliani. I am still amazed by Sarkozy’s ability to attract Carla Bruni and the his divorce while in presidency. I wonder how his perceived leadership and personality will affect the future. My guess is France will get more concessions and favorable treatment with a superstar/singer/model by his side- just like Kennedy.

It’s Hard to Say Goodbye to Facebook

Henry — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:39:08 +0000

The more criticism, the more hype= all press is good press? The attacks on Facebook and its new “Beacon” advertising platform are only increasing and are bringing up serious issues for behavioral marketing and user privacy.

Furthermore, what kind of name is “Beacon” for an advertising program? Is it supposed to mean: “Hey kids, FOLLOW THE BEACON?,” AKA, “We know you love beacon, says it in your profile and you are friends with Oscar Meyer, so…. Follow the beacon.”

But despite this, I believe there will be a free rider dilemma/laziness factor, whereby even if Facebook pisses off its users and abuses them and sells all their personal info, I find it difficult to believe that there will be an user exodus. The fact is that it took a while for people to make the leap onto Facebook and that once they have taken the 15 minutes or so to figure out Facebook and create a profile, it is going to be challenging to get them off Facebook, especially when it probably took anywhere from 10 to 50 emails from fellow Facebookers to get you on Facebook in the first place. I mean, it is really going to take the next big thing to take them away…

BUT YES, I am pissed off about their new advertising model and frankly there are things I just do not get. In particular, why, WHY and WHYYYYY, did they depart from their Facebook flyer model? There were tons of ways of integrating more advertising features while keeping the flyer. It is the flyer that legitimized advertising on Facebook, because it enabled students and others to directly advertising in local networks, which was effective and something they could have improved on.

Also for this time’s Facebook rant, I just want to state how envious I am of Peter Thiel and his founder’s fund that was able to convert $500,000 into $1 billion dollars in less than 2 years. You should definitely check out the article published in this month’s Fortune Magazine showcasing the success of the “PayPay Mafia”

Click on the link to this great article, but if you want more of an inside story, you should read “The Paypal Wars” and you can even buy the products I recommend via my store!! (i.e Make WOM pay off )

Aqua Dots no longer just for kids!

Henry — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 20:03:57 +0000

It’s official in a series of toy recalls, Aqua Dots has now repositioned itself. In stead of a standard recall, they have decided to reposition their product to the adult children.

Parties aged from 18 to 35 are rushing to toy stores and trying to buy Aqua Dots, a new cheap alternative to seeing sketchy individuals in night club bathrooms. It is no longer tough to buy date rape drugs, just get some Aqua Dots. What an appealing name and they come in multiple colors. Easy to swallow, to carry around and readily available- just go to your local toy store.

Microsoft and Facebook unite

Henry — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 19:28:14 +0000

It has finally been announced, Microsoft has won another advertising battle against Google when it purchased 1.5% of Facebook for $240 million in cash. In addition to this, it is now being suggested that Facebook is raising $500 million more from hedge funds, using the same $15 billion valuation. This will give Facebook enough money to pay its increasingly large staff and make acquisitions of its own- maybe even some of the applications it has let outside developers create.

Facebook does not have the revenues to to justify the price tag of $15 billion. It will not continue to grow as fast and has already shown moments of stagnation. It will continue to be successful and is something that will last, but the return on investment expected from the current finance round are not realistic. I believe the hedge fund guys are just waiting for the Facebook IPO to happen; just as soon as Facebook burns through the $750 million. The IPO will be successful, but we are only blowing more air into an already large bubble.

Now that Microsoft has a stake in Facebook, will Google want its share of Myspace? Google could probably get a good price, in comparison to the Facebook valuation, for a stake in Myspace. Closer ties with Myspace and News Corp could ease Google’s expansion to TV and also offer YouTube a chance to redeem itself with the big studios. At the same time there are clearly advantages for News Corp as well as it has been clear that Rupert Murdoch is interested in internet properties, but more importantly could use Google’s leverage and resources in advertising to shape up the Wall Street Journal…

Why didn’t Google buy Myspace and is it too late?

Henry — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:23:16 +0000

This question has not been brought up on many occasions. Maybe its because some people do not think Google’s “don’t be evil” mantra and Fox News’ outlook do not seem to match, but one thing is for sure, Google ads work well on MySpace. In fact, Google could have bought Myspace for about the same amount of money it has put in to the site in order to secure its advertising deal… In other words think of the ROI Google could have made by buying Myspace.

If the money would not have been enough, maybe a Google backed Myspace would be stronger to fight back at Facebook, which seems to be growing and slowly overtaking Myspace. Maybe not in the number of members yet, but it is clear that Myspace seems tired and Facebook is wired. But, in the internet world this can all change fast.

Could Google still purchase Myspace? That is a tough one. Is there a right price at which both News Corp and Google would be willing to agree. News Corp purchased MySpace for just under $600 million, but now with every newspaper and magazine talking about Facebook, rumors of a potential IPO and a potential $15 billion valuation; would Rupert Murdoch consider selling? I do not think Google would nor could afford the expensive price tag for either Facebook or Myspace.

Apparently, according to some cnet article and some analysts, Myspace could reach the $15 billion valuation in 3 years. I do not know how that number was come up with, but it seems like there may be just a little tiny bit of a web 2.0 bubble around social networking. Within 3 years, Facebook could be worth $90 billion at this rate or probably more like $5-6 billion once the hype dies down…

The Battle for the 30+ers

Henry — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 03:13:41 +0000

When Silicon Valley’s hot shots start to social network so does everyone else. Social networking continues to increase and the news is that the 18 to 25 is no longer the hottest demographic. Instead the 30+ers are the fastest growing segment of the social networking phenomenon. After Linkedin, Gather and many other social networks- new ones, less conventional are starting to appeal to the 30+ such as Myspace and Facebook. It is interesting for Facebook where the initial core population was the class of 2006 and gradually spread to older generations because of the existing bonds between the people and the fact that it was a practical way to get in touch and keep a connection or stregnthen existing connections. Now the “social graph” that Mark Zuckerburg often refers to, or simply the social network being created into something we grow and develop. Our behavior is likely to evolve on these sites as we mature (especially for the early facebook adopters) and our tastes change or we discover new things such as a new youtube video or have traveled abroad. We can share our discoveries and self evolution with our friends.

I joined Facebook early on, when it was a tool to interact with my college friends, but then it evolved into a tool to interact with all my friends, but now it is moving towards a tool or “utility,” according to Mark Z, for interacting with everyone that one knows. The people I know are of different age groups and my dad has already told me that he has received numerous Facebook invites, which means that it might not be that long until I am friends with my father and his friends.

As Facebook makes this progression, I hope that someone will create an application that enables people to recreate family trees. A cheaper alternative to paying someone to trace back your ancestors. There may be other applications that trace various social graphs and play around with what was once referred to as the “6 degrees theory.” Facebook and the internet in general reform societies 6 degrees theory, because people can be connected more easily and avoid certain degrees.

Society 2.0

Henry — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 22:22:07 +0000

The internet is the word of the 21st century. It is incredible how important it has become and how much a part of our daily lives it plays. The internet has penetrated our society and societal norms quicker than a goldfish loses its memory. We reap the wide benefits of the internet, from being able to instantly communicate as well as have greater and more rapid access to information. But, every benefit has its cost and unfortunately, we are too immersed in the internet and our use of it, to consider the implications of our new society. Are we going to become less honest or more open? In many ways the internet can enable us to share our lives with the world with social networks and blogs.

I wish everyone would take a look up from their computer to think about some of these questions before it is too late to control the fate of our society that took too much e…