Yopy

Hongkong Phooey did an awesome article on how to get to Sincere Podium (先達廣場) at his Cnet column. A favorite place of mine, too.

When it comes to shopping, everyone knows that Hong Kong is one of the best places to shop, especially for electronic goods. For us gadgeteers, it’s also a mobile phone hub as one can get hold of those new models, fine accessories, and sometimes bargain deals. Been asked a lot on my blog and during conversations with tourists on how to get to one place in particular, the Sincere Podium, better known as Sintat Centre (先達廣場), the ultimate shopping paradise for mobile phones and accessories.?

Here, you can find unlocked iPhone 3Gs, the iPhone look-alike Meizu and tons of other goodies. More

Click on the more to check out his article and he included a video on how to get there.

I usually hang out there to check out PDAs and Camera. This place has great prices on parallel imports and used gadgets.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Filed under: Hong Kong by yopy, published July 25, 2008

Well, the iPhone craze. This party was organized by Belle Liu (Beansbox), Napoleon (Palava Digital), HKU Mac User and Mac Citizen Hong Kong.

The event was packed. So many Apple fans.

Me taking a picture of Victor (HongKong Phooey).

Leon Ho (lifehack.org) , Me and Angus (852signal.com)

Leon and Ed (Dookaz.com).

Ed wants a free iPhone.

Victor ((HongKong Phooey), Michael (Zendesk.com) , Angus, Leon Ho, Ed Chok.

Me and Michael (zendesk.com)

Will I pickup an iPhone? Probably not. I am happy using PPC. Going to iPhone is like moving back to Palm. I have left Palm long time ago. The one thing I don’t like about Palm or iPhone is the battery. You can’t interchange the battery. There were many moment when I want to reach for critical information, the battery was low and I need to re-charge the battery.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Filed under: Blogger / Tech Events by yopy, published July 23, 2008

I went to a seminar organized by Capital Weekly magazine, DBS bank and M-finance.net. Lately, the banks in hong kong are pushing quite aggressively on offering forex trading. DBS has an advertisement on the Standard newspaper almost everyday hyping about forex trading.

DBS Bank hk.dbs.com

I was quite surprise at DBS bank, such a large banking institution offering a sub-par product. The spread on most to the pairs are 8pips. Ex. Gbp/Usd is 8pips spread. Market maker like fxcm.com and forex.com are offering better spread than DBS bank. My favorite market maker Migfx.ch is offering 3 pips spread on Gbp/Usd. What is the problem here???

Another thing, their charting software sucks. I think the only competitive edge they can offer is the DBS brand. That it. Other than that, I don’t know how they can rope in con those aunty and uncles to trade forex.

[tag]M-finance.net[/tag] m-finance.net
The Ceo is a very good speaker. I am sure he incurred many battles scar on the forex trading. He does understand the forex trading environment. The next question to ask is – ‘Is he a good trader, too?’. Something I will never knows.

He offered four golden rules for entry. 1) Sell on Resistance 2) Buy on Support 3) Sell on Breakout of Support 4) Buy on Breakout of Resistance. The question is – Is your line of Resistance and my line of Resistance the same?

[tag]Capital Weekly[/tag] magazine capitalweekly.com

I need to poke fun on this magazine slogan. It’s ‘For the Rich and Powerful’. I am wondering if Mr. Li Ka Shing or Mr. Donald Tsang read this magazine. Check out Business Week slogan ‘Smarter, Faster, Richer’.

Check out Business Week Mission Statement

Our mission is to inform and inspire
business leaders to make smarter decisions
in their professional and personal lives.

Through passionate voices and provocative
viewpoints, we create an open dialogue among
a global community to generate and share ideas.

We offer the actionable insight affluent
professionals need at every stage in their career —
whenever, wherever, and however they want it.”

Stephen J. Adler
Editor-in-Chief, BusinessWeek

After reading their mission statement, wouldn’t you want to go out and subscribe the magazine.

Let look at Capital Weekly Magazine again –

For The Rich and Powerful

All I can say…Dream On…

Popularity: 13% [?]

Filed under: Seminars by yopy, published July 11, 2008

I went to the 14th Wedwednesday Social Mixer. The interview was with Chris Justice, the MD of Quamnet.com. A financial service portal.

I am always kinda interested to know how they have survived the dot-com bust and still hanging around today. Moreover, their contents are not free. It’s subscription based.

I have seen many financial portal sprung up in malaysia during year 2001-2002. Many have gone and those who survived today have turned themselves into an I.T. solution provider company. After the bust, most of the financial portal springs up were from stock brokerage house.

I asked about three questions – 1) does their research help me if I am a technical trader 2) how many event they do in a month 3) does their live chart able to port with product like tradestation or metastock charting software.

With the answer given by Chris, I can pretty much sum up (I am guessing) that Quamnet.com derived most of their revenue from events managing, magazine advertising and most probably funds managing (I saw they have many division listed on their site). Subscription services probably contributed less than 20% of the company revenue (Again, I am guessing). They are basically a media company leveraging on stock market research as a front end tools.

It really reaffirms my belief that to be successful on the internet space, you do need a mixture of off-line business model. Solely relying on the internet will only bring death.

There was a lady asking why Quamnet.com does not move up another step. I think she meant Quamnet should provide online trading. If it’s online trading, I can only say…don’t tread that water. Quamnet will never be able to compete with the like of Interactivebrokers.com. These guys lived and breathe on online trading. Quamnet will never be able to compete on price or match Interactivebrokers.com robust infrastructure.

Anyway, it’s good to know Quamnet are successful in their own rights. To be around since 1999 is a tremendous success.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Filed under: Blogger / Tech Events, WebWednesday by yopy, published July 9, 2008

I just pickup this up from hongkiat.com site. Barcamp is arriving in Malaysia on July 26th & 27th.

I saw some big name sponsored and saw 2 contributors that I know. Dr. Sivapalan and Ganesh Kumar. Dr. Sivapalan was one of the founder to www.team.net.my and Ganesh is the CEO of MOL.Com.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Filed under: Malaysia by yopy, published July 7, 2008

Charles Mok

Thks Charles for inviting me to your facebook friends get-together.

The discussion was quite broad. Touching on Politics to Wiki to I.T. to Entrepreneurship. The people attended are quite different from Web Wednesday. Most of the attendees are from the Academics and the legal profession.

I like the bookstore cum cafe….very Mao theme….

The place was very packed. What can I say….Charles has many friends and I am one of them. Very happy… I am beginning to assimilate…and Charles – thks for your invitation.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Filed under: Startup Biz by yopy, published July 4, 2008

I took this picture of e-cosway stockist somewhere near Lok Fu mtr station.

Can ecosway, a malaysian mlm company find its place in Hong Kong? I have been passing this place for the last 6 months. It does not look that good…don’t seem to find anyone inside buying stuff….

I am thinking aloud…..

Update:

Aug 9,08

I was passing ecosway stockist again today.

Check it out….The store finally shutdown. My projection was right. They could not survive. Retailing in Hong Kong is very harsh. The rental is you majority cost. The moment you don’t have foot traffic. You are almost dead. Plus, the golden rule…location, location and location.

Reason (my opinions)

Ecosway brought in too many malaysian products.

Paste

The curry paste, rendang paste and other malaysian paste just does not suite hong kongers. Hong Kong people can’t take south east asian curry. They liked are japanese type of curry.

Toiletries

Other ecosway like detergent, shampoo and others toiletries products just could not cut it. Pricing are not competitive. I can buy a brand name for less than ecosway products. Why do I want to buy ecosway. As a Hong Konger, who is ecosway???

Now, I understand what HSBC said: ‘The world’s local bank’. To compete, you need to localize your product.

Again…I am thinking aloud.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Filed under: Thinking Aloud by yopy, published July 2, 2008