Sam Lin

British Bankers Club @ Menlo Park, CA Recently, we got a nice treat at BBC . Nice place to try Upper Class Experience. Food was great. The best part was the Open Bar in my opinion :) Thanks to our dear director. Seriously, let's talk about Openness. Before that, allow me to nag one more thing first: Open Internet.  It's been an extreme bad year on  Net Neutrality .  Read  When The FCC Kills Net Neutrality and search NN . gofccyourself please. John Oliver explained very nicely in 2014 Why Open Last chapter, I blogged about how Apple ignited the Smartphone Revolution.  All things being equal, that is the most common formula to tip a paradigm shift with unstoppable momentum. However, if to go to the next level, Open Platform strategy is the One. Android happened to be the winner this round. To be clear, lets focus on facts rather than on moral debates. Hopefully, history may teach us something for the road ahead. Don't get me wrong, it almo...

filoli.org ... Long Live The Hammer! “To be, or not to be, that is the question”. Indeed an question that one should keep asking. An answer to the Middle Class Innovation Dilemma can be either Open or Closed. But, there is no reason, that the universe does not allow both of them to be right. Please keep in mind without considering other dimensions, such as when and what, the question of which one better is only idealism. The law of the instrument has it - “if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” Unless, it's Mjolnir.  Oh, even Thor will need to learn new tricks. The Smartphone Revolution   Let’s focus on the innovation, that tips a system to a paradigm shift, and the other to democratize it, in that order.  In the recent smartphone revolution, there are iOS vs Android. They are almost the perfect archetypes of Closed vs Open. The Beginning of Time No one know what's the next big thing for sure....

Veterans Day - what’s open or closed? Nope, this is not about which store was open or closed, go search , please ;) This is about open or closed platform strategies. But seriously, it’s very confusing, and a holiday always works better when everyone gets it. As AI is going to do all our work soon, we shouldn’t need to work that much anyway, right dear employers? There has been some interesting conversion to blog in the future. “All Of This Has Happened Before And Will Happen Again” BSG - Last Supper After 2 blogs on Apple products, I’m probably looked like A fan. Well, I’m not. It’ll be over simplification to judge only by results. Facts: Apple does have good product, strategy and execution. That does not mean it is the right way nor the best model for the whole wave cycle nor the whole market. Furthermore, one can try to beat Apple on its own game. Good luck, I’ve not seen nor expected anyone comes close anytime soon. To the fellows of “iPhone killers”, you shou...

Smartwatch Renaissance Third Time’s A Charm Anything is great at the 3rd version, e.g. MS Windows really became a hit at 3.0  Here comes another example, Apple Watch Series 3 . The chance of Smartwatch becoming A thing is high this iteration. Don’t get me wrong, anyone may claim nothing “new” here indeed. However, novelty is often overrated. The highlights here are “utility” and “just works”. Apple Watch 3 happens to have 3 killer utility features: Telephony and mobile data connection Music streaming Mobile payment Finally, one can leave the mobile behind for a few hours, such as go to jog, gym, dinner and movies. Note, I’m not saying this is for everyone imminently. They are for premium users for now. Those utility features may be also a good fit to a few user groups, such as elders and little kids. www.apple.com/watch One More Thing Being Apple, they all come with secret sauce. AirPots makes Telephony on watch much nature. Not everyone wants to be as ...