Netizen

Friday, November 16, 2012

Zynga's Mobile Woes

It is like you spent your prime learning Newton's theory of gravity, then someone, or something, comes along and says you need to be learning the Theory Of Relativity. That is how mobile is. I guess "getting" mobile is not easy.

Has Zynga Faced A Paradigm Shift?
Zynga: Could It Reinvent Itself?
Zynga Recipe
Zynga Morale
Zynga And Mobile
Zynga Fixes
Zynga Getting Hammered

Behind Mark Pincus's Bid to Save Zynga

Mr. Campbell, a technology veteran who has coached Silicon Valley CEOs such as Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt, had been called in by Zynga investor and venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers to advise Mr. Pincus as the social games company's stock plunged and some of its online games lost traction. Some Kleiner Perkins partners warned Mr. Campbell that he might not make much progress. .......... Pincus was open to advice. Mr. Pincus "was discouraged" ...... He "felt terrible about what was happening; he felt the turmoil." ...... The 46-year-old CEO has remained outwardly positive while Zynga's troubles have played out publicly over the past few months. ..... He was grappling with internal strife, including executive defections and confrontations with employees. ....... the CEO, who owns 50.2% of Zynga's voting control and has previously worked with outside consultants to improve his management skills, is trying to remake himself as its leader by ceding more control to deputies and improving communications. ...... "rapid change in player habits and social technologies have dictated fundamental changes at Zynga. And when businesses change, it's inevitable that some people will choose to leave." ...... Mr. Gordon said Zynga had failed to prioritize mobile development and found that its online games didn't easily translate to smartphones' smaller screens. "Mobile turned out to be more different than anyone expected, in terms of monetization and also user experience" ........ In May, at an off-site meeting in Monterey, Calif., with 100 senior employees, one group led by product director Jonathan Liu confronted Mr. Pincus over morale. Mr. Liu said he told Mr. Pincus that Zynga needed a clear strategic vision. ...... Mr. Liu, who added that he was "almost yelling" at Mr. Pincus at the meeting. .... and reorganized the mobile division so that it was integrated into every gaming studio and not a stand-alone unit. He also pushed harder into new businesses, like real-money gambling. ..... also filled his calendar with product meetings ..... switched his main phone from a BlackBerry to iPhone ..... Employee departures became rote ...... When Zynga notified employees of their extra equity, many received just several hundred options spread across a multiyear vesting schedule, while others got a larger amount. Some employees asked if they could refuse the grant, which they viewed as an insult and a pittance ...... Pincus has focused on improving his communication skills ........ "Project Whistle," a program to connect top executives with Zynga employees. The group has run more than 30 meetings over the last two months where executives discuss Zynga's strategy and answer questions from the crowd. ..... delegation skills. Mr. Pincus has been known for dominating discussions and focusing on details such as the font choice or color scheme of games

Zynga's CEO Almost Broke Down In Tears Over Company's Downfall

employees berating him about the company's lack of a strategic vision and poorly thought-out schemes to boost morale

Now David Ko Is Essentially Running Zynga

David Ko, an executive who has championed Zynga's push into mobile and transformation of its Facebook-oriented franchises like FarmVille and Mafia Wars into multiplatform gaming experiences that cross both Web and mobile, has gotten another promotion in the process...... the troubled maker of social games shuffles management every few months, as it tries to adapt the company to a rapidly changing world where mobile rules..... Ko's been a key part of that transformation, pushing Zynga to buy Newtoy, the maker of Words With Friends, and OMGPOP, the maker of Draw Something...... Ko now oversees Zynga's strategic planning, international expansion, and infrastructure........ Ko also has oversight for all of Zynga's game development, with Zynga's top game-development executive, Steve Chiang, reporting to him. Chiang and Ko had previously shared oversight for Zynga's studios, with both reporting to Pincus. ..... Steve Chiang is now Zynga's president of games, overseeing all studios and reporting to Ko

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Talk About Pulling Your Own Weight

Nanotube Muscles Bench 50,000 Times Their Own Weight

Carbon nanotube yarns powered by light or electricity can run motors, flip a catapult, and lift impressive amounts of weight. ..... lifting loads as much as 50,000 times greater than their own weight .... Artificial muscles might be used as actuators in robotics and surgical tools, and drive tiny motors and flywheels. The nanotube muscles can be powered by electricity, but they also contract in response to light and certain chemicals. And they work at temperatures as high as 2,500 degrees Celsius, an extreme that reduces other strong actuating materials to a molten puddle. And unlike previous carbon nanotube muscles, these materials require no packaging or battery-like electrolytes to function. ..... Individual carbon nanotubes are stronger than steel, highly conductive, have great optical properties, and so on .... One problem is the tendency for nanotubes to form spaghetti-like tangles, where each point of tube-to-tube contact can compromise strength. But over the past few years materials scientists have been learning how to straighten out these tangles and build large, useful things

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

For China To Achieve Double Digit Growths Again

GDP per capita China 2002 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Massive political reform is necessary. A country that represses free speech can not beat one that celebrates it.

China’s Innovation Success Depends on Political Changes

Since 1978, the Chinese economy has seen phenomenal growth. ..... the country has grown by relying heavily on investments, exports, and its huge low-cost labor force. That formula has worked well so far, but evidence indicates that China is getting less and less from this approach lately. The country’s export growth is decelerating quickly, and China is already investing an amount equivalent to about half of its GDP—which is probably the highest level ever among any country in peacetime. ...... changing the country’s strategy so that its growth wastes less energy, requires less investment, and is less reliant on exploiting cheap labor as a competitive advantage. .... a transition out of the rapid growth model of the last three decades will be fraught with technical uncertainties and political complexities ..... The factors that drive a country to grow when its GDP per capita is $500 are totally different from the growth drivers when a country has a per capita GDP beyond $5,000. At $500—which was the case in China in 1994—you can copy the technology and production methods of other countries and drop them into your economy. ..... As a country gets richer, its growth formula changes. Innovations, technology, and productivity improvements become more important, as do domestic entrepreneurs and innovators. ...... Professors in China are like company employees, in contrast to their fiercely independent counterparts in the West. Research projects are often directed from the top down rather than being initiated by professors and researchers. Data sharing is difficult across bureaucracies ...... the huge export markets in Europe and the United States—is shrinking on the demand side. ...... technology-based growth drivers require more than simply copying other countries’ technology and business models. They require a rule-based system, IP protection, freedom to think and challenge authority, and a government with limited reach and power. In other words, they require Western institutions.

Online Courses And The Global South

Juan Lindo, president of El Salvador, 1841-42 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Before I came to America for college, after high school, I had rented a room not far from the largest library in Nepal. I liked to read. One of the things I noticed at the library was there were all these chemistry journals from decades back. I had some idea of how fast knowledge changed and new research happened. I was flabbergasted that there were Masters students writing their thesis papers based on journal articles from 30 years ago that would not stand global level scrutiny. But it was happening. I had read somewhere, different countries live in different centuries.

Taking journals online, taking world class courses online fundamentally changes things. This below is a welcome report.

Online Courses Put Pressure on Universities in Poorer Nations

edX, the $60 million collaboration between MIT and Harvard to stream “massive open online courses,” or MOOCs, over the Web. ..... The University of El Salvador, located in San Salvador, is the only public university in the country. It spends $60 million a year to teach 50,000 students, and its budget is so limited that it can only accept about one-third of applicants. (By comparison, the University of Michigan, which has a similar number of students, spends $1.6 billion on its core academic mission, not including sports teams, dorms, and hospitals.) Protests over the shortage of spots regularly shut down the campus. Semesters don't end on time. The university doesn't appear in international rankings. ..... within 50 years there might only be 10 universities still “delivering” higher education. ...... One problem is out-of-date coursework. Martinez says computer science is still taught using the waterfall model, a programming approach that dates to the punch-card era. “A computer science student here spends the first six months doing flow diagrams, because that’s how we did it in the 1970s in El Salvador when we didn’t have any computers to work on,” he says. MOOCs, by contrast, are teaching a new technique known as agile software development in classes like edX’s CS169.1, which focuses on how Web-based programs such as Gmail are created.

$299 For Phone, Then $30 A Month

And I am thinking this is almost Republic Wireless territory. Granted there is no unlimited talking, but I guess the trick is to use the unlimited data to use your Google Voice app. I have been using Google Voice as my primary phone for years now. It is free. The quality is great. And it is really smart. The integration to my Gmail account is unbeatable. Otherwise I get anxious giving out my regular phone number. My Google Voice is a much cleaner experience. I like my address book in the cloud.

The Republic Wireless price experience with the sexiest phone experience, you can't beat that.

Republic Wireless' $19 Feast
Nexus 4: Sold Out
Nexus 4: My First Smartphone
The Nexus 4 Phone
Nexus 4 At $299: Really?

Nexus 4 is sold out. And the T-Mobile pre-paid SIM card that makes the $30 a month plan possible is also sold out. Interesting. Looks like a lot of people are going for this.

Google's Nexus 4: Understanding your carrier options

If you can manage with a low pool of monthly minutes (and with free Google services, it's more feasible than you'd think), T-Mobile Monthly 4G is about as cheap as you can get for smartphone service. The company's marquee prepaid plan -- which I use myself -- is $30 a month for 100 anytime minutes, unlimited texting, and unlimited data (with the first 5GB per month at 4G HSPA+ speeds). .......... Straight Talk is a Wal-Mart-affiliated provider that offers service on your choice of AT&T's or T-Mobile's network. Its best plan is $45 a month for unlimited minutes, unlimited texting, and unlimited data

How free Google services can help shrink your phone bill

trim back your monthly minutes -- and that doesn't mean you have to talk any less ...... The only number I give out to people these days is my Google Voice number ...... a fee-free VoIP phone line for your home and/or office. No hassle, no bills, and -- at least in my experience -- landline-like call quality. ..... As long as I'm at home, my actual cell phone never rings and I never use any cellular minutes. ........ a VoIP calling app for my Android phone ..... GrooVe IP lets you use the free Google calling service right from your smartphone; instead of using cellular minutes, you place calls over Wi-Fi or your 3G/4G data connection