slice of koh

Is it war between corporation and country?  In December, Google detected a cyberattack originating from China that resulted in theft of intellectual property.  The cyberattack also targeted other US companies and accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.  Up until now, Google has censored some results in hopes to increase information access in China.  Now they are revisiting their business operations in China and are no longer willing to censor results on Google.cn.

There is a lot at stake.  Losing a high-profile company would be embarrassing to the Chinese government who promise good business conditions to foreign investors.  As the Chinese government seeks to make China a global technology leader, losing the investment of one of the top technology companies in the world would surely be scrutinized.  In all likelihood, Beijing is unlikely to end all censorship and would possibly seek a compromise to keep its image in check.

Cyber espionage has been around for years between national governments but national governments targeting their current and future foreign investors?  That could be taking a little too far.

While I was wandering on the internet and checking on my investment portfolio, I noticed that Google added “Google Domestic Trends” to the left sidebar in the Google Finance page.  Upon opening the sidebar, I became incredibly fascinated by the charts.  They track queries related to key search terms by category and indexed to January 1, 2004.  You can overlay stocks or major indices like the Nasdaq or Dow over these trends. Behold the power of Google mining billions of people’s worth of search data.  My favorite categories are “Investing” and “Unemployment.”  Five years from now, people will look back on this in awe.

Gizmodo posted the video for Charlie Rose’s interview with Dan Hesse.  You have to give Dan Hesse credit.  Any executive will do anything to make his or her company look superior to competitors.  A smart executive understands the playing field, recognizes his or her company’s strengths and weaknesses, and will craft a strategy to compete.  Sprint has been in a downward spiral for awhile, but Dan Hesse seems to have a pretty good strategy in place for Sprint’s comeback. Below are some memorable quotes and comments:

“We’re getting ready to launch a couple new Android devices.” – One is HTC Hero, but what are the other ones?  Not only will Sprint launch a lower cost WebOS phone, Pixi, but Sprint is diversifying its portfolio to give the consumers a great selection of smartphones to use on its network.  Does anyone remember when Sprint actually had a cool selection of phones to choose from?  I don’t.

“In 20 / 20 hindsight, it was, yes… the premium that Sprint paid for Nextel was too much.” – Applaud Dan Hesse for recognizing the stupid merger.  There aren’t many corporate executives who’ll admit to management mistakes.  Even fewer will admit to M&A mistakes, especially those that made headlines.

“The biggest impediment to mobile growth is you got processors are getting a lot faster, screens are getting sharper, they use more and more power, and battery technology is not moving very fast… That’s the one breakthrough that the industry needs. It needs battery breakthroughs.” To me, this is one of the biggest issues with touchscreen smartphones.  My G1 dies after 6 hours with moderate usage.  That’s pretty inexcusable, as I’m often out and about for at least 12 hours per day.  With all these hardware improvement designed to eat less battery juice, why do manufacturers not see the beauty of making a better battery rather than trying to make its hardware more power-efficient?  Maybe someone should develop a touchscreen with built-in solar panels, so my phone could be charged with only sunlight.  A smartphone with a big touchscreen and fast processor will be useless if the battery dies in 2 hours.

After this interview, my respect for Dan Hesse has increased significantly.  He truly does understand the business and taking the right steps to make Sprint a viable contender once more.  Is it too little too late?  We’ll see for sure once Q3 and Q4 earnings come out for Sprint.

Okay, it’s not that big of a deal, but Microsoft and Nokia agreed to have Microsoft Office running on Nokia’s Symbian.  It still doesn’t make me want to buy a Nokia phone.  Where did the Nokia of long ago go?  It seems like you lost your innovative touch and design flair.  When are you actually going to make a phone I want.

The rumored release date is June 7th.  The Palm Pre is the first phone that makes me want to switch to Sprint when my T-Mobile contract ends.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love Android, but it tends to be clunky and slow at times.  There are two reasons why I did not switch to the IPhone.

1.  I will never switch to AT&T’s wireless network.  (Sorry friend who works at AT&T)

2. I can’t type without a keyboard.

G1 seemed to be the answer.  Android is pretty cool OS because it’s open source.  The form factor is cool because I can have my keyboard slide out, and the screen has decent resolution and brightness.

Alas, after several months of using my G1, the negatives are catching up to me.  The more functionality (i.e. GPS, Wi-Fi, internet browsing) I use with the G1, the more gripes I have with the phone.  The decent screen became sub-optimal as I struggle to catch up with current events and pop culture due to low lighting or low resolution.  G1′s form factor is now feeling like an unnecessary brick as I need to carry a purse in order to keep my phone in one place.  The more I use GPS, Wi-Fi, and 3g networks, the more I realize how the battery life is inadequate.  (What kind of phone battery dies in 1/2 day?  It also doesn’t help that T-Mobile’s 3G network is not that much faster than Edge at times.

The more I read  and see screenshots about the Pre, the more I believe that Palm has a product that can compete with IPhone in both functionality and ease-of-use.  I have always been a proponent for GSM phones due to the flexibility it allows with switching between phones and networks.   Also, I have been a T-Mobile customer for nearly 6 years, and I would be sad to leave their awesome customer service.

That being said, if I’m paying for data service and a smartphone, I want something that works really well.  Am I excited for the Palm Pre?  Yes.  Am I counting down the days until it’s supposed to come out?  Yes.  Will Pre revitalized Palm?  I hope so because the stock price is nowhere near its early 2000s heyday.