However, looking at the full extent of Xiaomi’s business model reveals just how different – and how disruptive — it is. For starters, unlike Apple, Xiaomi is not targeting premium customers; it’s mostly teens buying those high-quality phones, and hardly at a premium, since Xiaomi’s prices are at least 60% lower. A neat trick. How does Xiaomi pull that off?
To sell high-quality cell phones at so low a price, Xiaomi keeps each model on the market far longer than Apple does. On average, a new version of a phone is launched every 265 days in the industry – down from 345 days in 2009. But Xiaomi doesn’t renew its product for two years. Then, rather than charge high prices to cover the high cost of state-of-the-art components, Xiaomi prices the phone just a little higher than the total cost of all its components. As component costs drop over the two-year period by more than 90%, Xiaomi maintains its original price, and pockets the difference. Apple, on the other hand, collects its highest profits with the introduction of each model and needs to come up with new model after new model to keep those margins up.
When you consider how much easier it might be to profit from plummeting component prices than from continual new feature development (which sooner or later will likely overshoot the needs of most cell phone customers in any event), the disruptive potential of the model becomes clear.
via Xiaomi, Not Apple, Is Changing the Smartphone Industry.
Larry Page, Sergy Brin Are Lousy Coders – Business Insider
It turns out the developers most responsible for building the Google.com that quickly became the Web’s most powerful company are two guys you’ve probably never heard of.
The first is Urs Hözle. According to one early Googler quoted by Edwards, Hözle was “the key” to Google’s early success.
Edwards writes, “Enough engineers sang his praises that this book could have been written entirely as a hagiography of Saint Urs, Keeper of the Blessed Code.”
The second is Jeff Dean. Edwards writes that “Jeff pumped out elegant code like a champagne fountain at a wedding.”
“It seemed to pour from him effortlessly in endless streams that flowed together to form sparkling programs that did remarkable things. He once wrote a two-hundred-thousand-line application to help the Centers for Disease Control manage specialized statistics for epidemiologists. It’s still in use and garners more peer citations than any of the dozens of patented programs he has produced in a decade at Google. He wrote it as a summer intern in high school.”
via Larry Page, Sergy Brin Are Lousy Coders – Business Insider.
Who’s footing ‘Binay’ farm’s bills? | Inquirer News
Some enterprising lawyer should get the names of all the local farmers who are apparently unwittingly acting as dummies and file for Affidavit of Loss then try to sell these lands as fast as possible and just migrate.
He, too, was a dummy
It turned out that he had been one of them, he said.
Mercado said he remembered Binay directing him to go to President Jose P. Laurel Bank in Batangas to sign the deed of sale for the property. An original certificate of title was later issued in Mercado’s name.
But while his name was used, he said, it was not he who paid for the property and, for that matter, he was also not the one paying taxes for it. The tax payments are up to date, he said.
“I did not pay for that. They did. They just asked me to go there to sign [the documents],” he said, as he resumed his testimony into the alleged irregularities in Makati City.
He said he had not signed any document authorizing Gregorio to sell the land to Tiu.
Mercado also said that as shown by the documents, he is still the owner of the 4.2- hectare property that is supposed to be part of the Sunchamp estate.
“Up to now, that’s mine because it has not yet been transferred,” he said.
Even if the original title is not with him, he can file an affidavit of loss and get a new copy of the title, he said.
Mercado also showed copies of tax declarations in the name of Anna Marie Gregorio for 5,000 square meters of the so-called hacienda.
No DAR clearance
He alleged that the property was sold to Gregorio by an agrarian reform beneficiary, but without a clearance from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
Cayetano said the implication of Mercado’s testimony was that Tiu’s investors had been duped. Tiu said he had paid P11 million for the P440 million transaction and had spent P50 million for improvements on the property.
via Who’s footing ‘Binay’ farm’s bills? | Inquirer News.
Senator Santiago shoots carabao, farm fails | The Society of Honor by Joe America
The Correct Context
The Aquino defense program is rational and strong. And it is peaceful.
Senator Santiago needs to propose an alternative before she prances and dances before the sensationalist media undermining Philippine well-being by chopping at one of its basic support beams.
For me, the VFA matter is no big deal. Let the US amend the Philippine VFA to allow the Philippines to hold accused Filipino troops during the trial period. This does not require an act of Congress and it will not drive Americans into the street humiliated that they no longer have any sovereignty.
Then let’s get on with building mutually beneficial alliances and the training that helps the Philippines to build a professional defense force.
via Senator Santiago shoots carabao, farm fails | The Society of Honor by Joe America.
Quit Your Job – The Atlantic
My friends sometimes approach me with career anxieties, under the false impression that writing about economics makes somebody a good career advisor. My counsel is typically something like optimistic incrementalism. Don’t quit your job, mastery comes with time, job satisfaction comes with mastery… that sort of stuff.
When the same friends ask my roommate, an entrepreneur building a financial services app, they’re whiplashed with radical optimism. Get the hell out of there! Quit if you have to! You’ll be happier doing just about anything else!
I never said it outright, but I assumed that my cautious approach was more responsible, even if it seldom proved more inspirational. But according to a new study of youth unemployment by economists Martin Gervais, Nir Jaimovich, Henry Siu, and Yaniv Yedid-Levi, my incrementalist advice, while appropriate for the worst periods of the Great Recession, isn’t so great, overall.
Instead, there is what you might call a “dream-job premium.” Jumping between jobs in your 20s, which strikes many people as wayward and noncommittal, improves the chance that you’ll find more satisfying—and higher paying—work in your 30s and 40s.
via Quit Your Job – The Atlantic.
The unbearable B-ness of software | Michael O. Church
I’m not Jack Welch’s biggest fan. For one thing, he invented the “rank-and-yank” HR policies that literally decimate companies. I don’t disagree with the idea that companies would improve their health by letting go 5-10 percent of their people per year, but I think the discovery process involved is impossible and often politically toxic. There is, however, one thing he’s said that I think has a lot of value: “A players hire A players; B players hire C players“. His point is that if you have mediocre management, you’ll actually end up with terrible employees. I would say it’s not limited to hiring only. A players make more A players. They teach each other how to be better. Not only that, but they raise the potential for what an A player can do. B players don’t have the foresight or “ownership” mentality to mentor others, and produce non-productive C players.
via The unbearable B-ness of software | Michael O. Church.
Coron, Palawan: 8 Must-See Places In This Paradise
Still deciding between Coron vs Batanes vs Siargao.
In the recent years, Coron has become a must-visit destination not only for Filipinos but also foreign tourists who want to relax, unwind, and enjoy breathtaking land and seascapes.
An island that lies off the coast of Palawan, Coron has stunning rock formations, pristine white sand beaches, and is home to one of the cleanest lakes in the Philippines.
Plan ahead and make sure to make time for some of these destinations in Coron.
via Coron, Palawan: 8 Must-See Places In This Paradise.
Five Science 'Facts' You Learned At School That Are Plain Wrong
Time To Rewrite Textbooks?
There are many more than the five “facts” that need to be fixed in school textbooks. I am not suggesting that we should start teaching 6-year-olds about matter that only appears in Nobel Prize-winning physics labs or filling the curriculum with detail on dozens of senses. But maybe we should stop telling kids fibs.
Perhaps a biology lesson should start with: “We have many senses, here are the five we are going to learn about.” Or a sentence dropped in here and there that mentions the existence of more than three states of matter. As for the tongue map, just rip that page out of the book.
via Five Science ‘Facts’ You Learned At School That Are Plain Wrong.
Another reason to spend money on experiences rather than things—the positive benefits of anticipation – Quartz
All of the studies indicated that anticipation of an experience is more exciting and pleasant than the anticipation of a material purchase—regardless of the price of the purchase. In the case of crowds queuing up to make purchases, those in line for an experience (such as a play or admission to a theme park) generally are in better moods and on better behavior than those in line to buy material goods. In a press release, Gilovich said one reason the research is important to society is that it “suggests that overall well-being can be advanced by providing an infrastructure that affords experiences—such as parks, trails, beaches—as much as it does material consumption.”
via Another reason to spend money on experiences rather than things—the positive benefits of anticipation – Quartz.
A Week After Its Release, John Wick Already Seems Like a Cult Classic – The Atlantic
Purely for the fun, wanted to watch again after exiting the movie house.
I’m not even sure this attempt at meaning is what will make me and others watch John Wick again and again. The coolest thing about it really is the violence. Whether Wick is taking out people at a thudding nightclub, a rain-drenched dock, or a neon-lit bathhouse, everything is presented with a crispness lacking from most lazily cut shaky-cam action movies these days. And there’s the refreshing, oddball sense of humor, down to the world-building and Nyqvist’s engagingly big performance. The entire ensemble is filled with great “hey, it’s that guy!” character actors, including John Leguizamo, Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, Clarke Peters, and Thomas Sadoski in what amount to one-scene performances.The difficulty in anointing any film a cult sensation is that it immediately gives it a whole new burden to bear: Audiences going to see John Wick expecting something ironic or skewed might exit disappointed. It’s having fun, but it’s still a straight-ahead revenge drama that gets a little bogged down in its own seriousness towards its last act. It’s not perfect. But it is special, especially for a mid-budget Hollywood action drama, and it has stuck firmly in my mind since that late-night screening last Friday. I’m going to see it again; the question is just how many of you I’m dragging along with me.
via A Week After Its Release, John Wick Already Seems Like a Cult Classic – The Atlantic.