Many knowledge-based distributors are seriously considering the move into e-commerce. A few of the forward-thinking companies have already started their efforts.
— Read on www.linkedin.com/pulse/e-commerce-distributors-numbers-frank-hurtte
Month: January 2019
Apple in 2018: The Six Colors report card – Six Colors
I have an XR. It is the best iPhone ever. Great size and the battery life is amaze balls. I go all day, hard usage, and have battery to spare by the time I get home. That has never been the case for me for any iPhone.
For the screen is similar to my TV complaints – I don’t like LED TV’s. I still have too old, but awesome, Panasonic Plasma TV’s that I hope never die. Always wished I had bought the biggest version of them while they were still around. The colours are just better to my eyes.
Same way I feel when I look at my XR compared to my wife’s X – I like the LCD more.
But service and support is waning. Even with an Apple store in Singapore the service is no better.
https://seedvc.blog/2018/08/17/the-apple-i-knew-500ish-words/
We had a new iPhone X break within 2 weeks of purchase. My rule would if any apple hardware breaks within a month you should get a brand new device. Kind of like a lemon law of sorts. Apple, at the official store, refused and we had to get a new screen.
This week the same phone broke and I didn’t get it fixed at apple since it is out of warranty and it is cheaper to fix elsewhere.
The tech who fixed it showed me that apple did a ba repair job and a cable was pinched that broke but you can’t fix these things. Only new screens.
They suck.
Apple in 2018: The Six Colors report card – Six Colors:
There was effusive praise for the iPhone XR, which brought most of the features of the iPhone X to a lower price. John Siracusa said, “The iPhone XR gives us a glimpse of what a few well-chosen trade-offs can deliver.” John Gruber said, “After spending a few weeks using an XR full-time, I honestly question whether its LCD isn’t better than the XS’s OLED for my needs.”
OpenBundle
Interesting. Is Stoop taking off?
Don’t hear too much about it.
This is a tough problem – I love all the newsletters but there is no way I will subscribe to them all.
How To Be Successful – Sam Altman (#9 Willful)
Wrote this before :: https://seedvc.blog/2019/01/28/how-to-be-successful-sam-altman-focus-6/
I also like #9. It is a personal one to me since sometimes I let the forces around me dictate at times or at least influence my attitude.
I am specifically trying to improve this about myself this year.
How To Be Successful – Sam Altman:
9. Be willful
A big secret is that you can bend the world to your will a surprising percentage of the time—most people don’t even try, and just accept that things are the way that they are.
People have an enormous capacity to make things happen. A combination of self-doubt, giving up too early, and not pushing hard enough prevents most people from ever reaching anywhere near their potential.
Ask for what you want. You usually won’t get it, and often the rejection will be painful. But when this works, it works surprisingly well.
Almost always, the people who say “I am going to keep going until this works, and no matter what the challenges are I’m going to figure them out”, and mean it, go on to succeed. They are persistent long enough to give themselves a chance for luck to go their way.
Airbnb is my benchmark for this. There are so many stories they tell that I wouldn’t recommend trying to reproduce (keeping maxed-out credit cards in those nine-slot three-ring binder pages kids use for baseball cards, eating dollar store cereal for every meal, battle after battle with powerful entrenched interest, and on and on) but they managed to survive long enough for luck to go their way.
To be willful, you have to be optimistic—hopefully this is a personality trait that can be improved with practice. I have never met a very successful pessimistic person.
Apple says it’s banning Facebook’s research app that collects users’ personal information – Recode
I see this as a good start to body checking FB but I hope Apple goes further than this.
Mere mortals can do only one thing to escape FB, which is don’t use the service.
However large platforms like Apple and Google could work harder to keep fFB from abusing users on said platforms.
So much for Google being a good actor in any of this :: https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/30/googles-also-peddling-a-data-collector-through-apples-back-door/
I hope Apple takes this a step further.
In the meantime – apart from making bank, it must suck to work at FB these days.
Apple says it’s banning Facebook’s research app that collects users’ personal information – Recode
Munchery: What Happens When a Startup Goes Bust | Fortune
Interesting read.
On one hand I guess the vendors could argue that supposedly the VC’s have money and therefore they should make them whole.
But we all know the people responsible for this are the founders and the people running the company.
The VC’s don’t control them and apart from firing people or trying to influence the people running the place to do the right thing – in most cases the VC’s cannot force the outcome.
Messy stuff. Sounds like the Munchery crew are bunch of asshats.
Dyson’s Singapore sling – Nikkei Asian Review
Great look at the Dyson stuff.
BTW – you can pick up the author’s book here. 😉
I still think this is a smart move for Dyson and Singapore is right to try and work with the evolving landscape of trade.
There may be cheaper cities but there is no better city in SEA for a move like this.
Will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Dyson’s Singapore sling – Nikkei Asian Review:
Dyson’s decision to move specifically to Southeast Asia is also significant. As China’s overall economic growth slows, many global companies will begin to look afresh at Asia’s other emerging giants for future growth — a point made in The Future is Asian, a new book from author Parag Khanna. For all of the inducements it may or may not have offered Dyson, Singapore undeniably provides a useful base from which to launch future forays into markets like Indonesia and India.
Daring Fireball: TechCrunch: Facebook Pays Teenagers to Install VPN That Spies on Them
This is amazing. Between this and the FaceTime debacle – it is sometimes hard to side with Tim and Apple. I want to.
But they need to body check FB in a big way.
Daring Fireball: TechCrunch: Facebook Pays Teenagers to Install VPN That Spies on Them
Changes In VC and Startups Take Time – AVC
Huge goal of mine is to do my part to contribute to fixing this problem.
How To Be Successful – Sam Altman (Focus #6)
Probably one of the only posts from Sam that I can’t deny how good it is.
Lots of stuff in here to pick apart or discuss.
Focus – this is a big one for me I am trying to nail.
As I age I think it’s improving – my only regret is not getting better at it sooner.
I keep altering some of my habits to encourage focus.
For meetings I am mostly using a notebook and pen so that I focus in on the person – for some internal meetings needing lots of follow up I use my laptop since I figure my team understands me and how I work. However for most client meetings, I keep to the notebook.
When I got my new phone, love my XR BTW – I put far fewer apps on it. Digital cleanse of sorts.
When I can I cruise around with a book versus look at my phone or if that doesn’t work I podcast with a single AirPod and put my phone in my pocket. Regardless I am upping my information consumption but just books and podcasts – no skimming around.
I have three kids now so I can’t work a lot outside of office hours or hours I can carve out when not in the office which means focusing, working smarter and increasing my output is key.
There are no tricks but focus is helpful.
How To Be Successful – Sam Altman:
6. Focus
Focus is a force multiplier on work.
Almost everyone I’ve ever met would be well-served by spending more time thinking about what to focus on. It is much more important to work on the right thing than it is to work many hours. Most people waste most of their time on stuff that doesn’t matter.
Once you have figured out what to do, be unstoppable about getting your small handful of priorities accomplished quickly. I have yet to meet a slow-moving person who is very successful.
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