Xbox One vs PS4 (do you really need either?)

I'm always excited to see new hardware coming to the market, and when they do I always find myself in the quandary of "do I want/need one?".

I currently own a PS3 slimline version.  I use it occasionally for games (FIFA in particular, or whenever new interesting titles drop such as The Last Of Us), but mainly as my media viewing device.  Now that may be Blu-ray movies, or it could be something that I stream from my netbook, or it could even be some YouTube content using the YouTube app on the PS3.  I'm pretty much satisfied with everything that it has to offer me and I'd say I use it maybe 3-4 times a week.  Great.

So why would I need a new console?

Well, from the look of the games coming to the new PS4 and Xbox One, the graphics and performance look almost lifelike.  I was extremely impressed.  Xbox One added a Blu-ray drive, hmmm about time Microsoft. PS4 added ermmmm, a touchpad thing to the controller. Useful.

So as things stand, that's about as far as I understand in terms of what they have that can really convince me to upgrade my home entertainment system.  And in case you didn't catch the tone of what I'm saying here, let me clarify, I'm not convinced I need to upgrade anything.

My personal feelings aside, the devices both seem well designed, and would slot right in underneath the television in most consumers homes I'm sure.  Sony have priced their PS4 reasonably with no additional costs or catches.  Microsoft have really maxed out the price for the Xbox One and justified it by saying that the Kinect comes with it.

Where Sony have really won already, and Microsoft have shot themselves in the foot (then nailed the bleeding foot to the floor), is with the handling of game ownership.  Sony does not require an Internet connection to authenticate a game, nor does it impose any restrictions on the sale, resale, lending, borrowing, frisbee throwing of games to your friends/strangers/who ever.
Microsoft have a series of ridiculous restrictions that require a user to be connected to the Internet at least once every 24 hours (ET phoooone hooooome), and the whole (potential, depending on game studios) farce of restrictions on games 'registered' to your Xbox One that won't be transferable to anyone else without the game being re-bought.

The other crazy thing is Microsoft's response to criticism of the Internet issue. "Just buy an Xbox 360 instead".  Smart Microsoft, really smart.  On top of that, the Xbox One won't even make an appearance in Asia until 2014!?!?!?!  Wowzer.

So it seems Microsoft might have already lost the war before they even got started.  But then again, does anyone really need a new console anyway?

Being Chatted Up

Apparently WhatsApp, of cross platform messaging fame, has set a new PB for messages sent and received in a day.  27 billion messages handled, that's a big jump from the stats given for April.  Boom.  Well done WhatsApp.

I use WhatsApp, and I also use Line and WeChat and Facebook Messenger and Tango and Google Hangouts and Skype.  Seems the only ones I haven't bothered with Viber and KakaoTalk, although I've been told they're not bad.

I use all these different apps depending on who I'm speaking to.  For example, I use WhatsApp with a few friends but also some people that I know professionally, I use Line exclusively with my wife as she likes their 'stickers', I use WeChat to keep in touch with some Chinese friends, Facebook Messenger mainly for friends, Tango for video calling with my wife when she's away travelling and Hangouts for talking to my Mum back home as she's just got an Android phone and realised she can talk to me at any time with it.

You might think,'you know you can do everything you need with just one'.  You'd be right, I could just pick one.  But my friends, colleagues and family are spread out across all these services.  This means that I've got to have a little folder of apps on my Galaxy Nexus just for all these chat apps.  And I'm ok with that, it works for me, I don't need a one-size-fits-all.

I have a feeling though that once WhatsApp starts asking me to pay for the service, I might be reluctant.  The reason being that I don't have to depend on the app because others do a good job too.  Once my free time with them runs out I can just ask regulars on that one to switch to Line or Tango or Hangouts or whatever.  Simple.

I do however, occasionally use SMS still.  So it's not totally dead for me.  I get some free with my mobile contract as well so I feel obliged to use them. But I still wonder what's next for these apps?  Video calling and messaging never really took off, everyone has already jumped on the 'stickers' bandwagon, so what could come next?  Perhaps more seamless sharing of media and news stories and other content?  Bringing some more of the apps to the desktop like Hangouts?  We'll see.

Motivating without a whip

During my time with startups I've come across a number of different management styles coming directly from the top of the business, either from a CEO or MD or main investor.  So far though, none of them have particularly impressed or motivated me to do anything more than consider my options.

Here's a snippet of the types I've worked under:

1)  Hands off

This method of managing things mainly involved providing requests from customers; E.g. This customer wants XYZ, and I promised them that we'd have to them by this date and they'd pay us this much.  This method seems straight forwards on paper, but in reality (especially when the rest of the staff hadn't even met the customer) was extremely inefficient.  The reason for this being that the request was really bare-bones, there just weren't clear enough requirements.  For example, if I came to you and said 'hey, I need a website by next Friday, I'll pay you $1000', you could create anything you wanted.  Because, there's no real detail there in the request.  So you figure, just ask for more details.  Right?  But this manager has disappeared on a 3 week travel session to the States, China, and Europe off the radar to secure more of these poorly defined projects for you to amble through.  By the time you see them again, the project is due and you deliver it, only for there to be complaints that it wasn't what they wanted.  Not good.

2)  Eyes on the Exit

This method involves bringing in some business from friends, family and good contacts in the industry.  They start with a good idea, and they believe that if they do things reasonably well for a year or two they'll be able to sell the company on and make a cool million (or more). As such, they tend to look to scrimp and save at every opportunity.  They hire good talent, but they don't pay it well.  They talk the talk, but when it comes to walking the walk, they're so uninterested in the business, there never feels like any progress is actually being made. Feels more like they're just waiting for that phone call that has a CEO of a billion dollar company on the other end with an over-inflated price for the business.  Disappointing.

3) The Big Shot

This manager thinks they are God's gift to the world of business and they seem to think they're some kind of celebrity.  It's sad really. They're good at securing contracts and closing deals and bringing in business and so forth, and they may well have even had success (or successes) with other businesses in the past.  They seem to be living vicariously through those former glories like a retired baseball player or like the portrayal of Buzz Aldrin from Little Britain TV show.  And with these former glories, and ego that it's given them, they think that staff will be climbing over themselves to work for them.  Not the case.  They treat staff like cogs in a machine that they've paid for, and therefore have the right to push those cogs in the machine to the limit, as if they're not real people, but tools.  A very demotivating style, and one that ultimately leaves that manager sat in the room on their own surrounded by their toys but nobody to play with, telling stories to themselves of former glories in the mirror.


From my perspective, I believe staff motivation comes from the need to feel good about what you're doing; sharing common goals etc.  If a manager can't share that passion for what the company is doing with their staff and feels that they need to hold the whip to get things done, I think it's destined to fail.  Look at the fall of dictatorships in countries through history, it's telling.

To Buy or Not to Buy - Surface 2.0

I always liked the look of Microsoft Surface; I was excited when I saw the announcement and although the price point isn't the best, I was considering buying the Pro version.

However, after reading the various reviews and opinions from the online community, it seemed to me that consumer satisfaction wasn't so hot.  Particularly with the battery life of the devices.

I'm not one to follow the crowd usually so when I had the opportunity to get hands on with Microsoft Surface I was on it like a shot.

My take on the Surface is that it's a solid build quality, the screen size is ok, the weight is fine too, it feels comfortable in the hands, the responsiveness of Windows 8 running on it is great... and so on and so on.

So why didn't I buy one?  I hear you ask.  Well, it seems from every source that i've read or heard or seen, they ALL say the battery life is only good for 5 hours or so.  Ultra fail.
My iPad Mini lasts 8 hours at least no problem whatsoever, I charge it every couple of days.  I want a Windows 8 tab so much, I've been studying the market for ages (the Acer Iconia W700 was on my radar for a while), but it seems that these first gen Windows 8 tabs and hybrids just dont quite cut it.

I read that Microsoft is likely to introduce Haswell processors to the Surface successor, which will obviously fix my battery life worries whilst also kicking up the graphics power a notch.  Win.

Will they alter the design at all?  I'd love to see a more adjustable kickstand on the back, and I'd also like to see Microsoft just throw in the damn cases for free.

We'll have to wait to the end of the month to see what comes, I can't wait!

Upstarts and startups

Since I've been in Singapore, I've had the opportunity to either interview with or start work for several startup companies.  Before I go on, please don't see this as me taking a swipe at the companies I interacted with, but rather a perspective that may well help others when choosing their career path.

I should also provide some context that before Singapore, I worked for a big company in Shanghai, and in the UK I was a teacher for 4 years, so no start up exposure before this. Fresh.

I've been lucky in a way because my wife has a steady job with a major blue chip company and earns enough for me to part ways with jobs if I don't think that it's a good fit or if I think it's taking me down the wrong path.  Venturing down the wrong path is a real sin in my book, I don't think I've got any time to waste; but that's another story.  Perhaps later.

So, because I've been able to pick and choose, I've had the following experiences (and I won't name names).

1)  Locally run business supplying education solutions to schools and colleges.  My first Singaporean career experience.  Up sold on the profile of the company, made to seem as if it was a bigger deal than it was.  Low salary offer, I took because I wanted to get going with something asap.  They applied for an EP for me, and it was rejected.  This was down to the fact they owed government taxes.  *alarm bells*  They said they'd sort it out, but I politely declined, and moved on.

2)  Company linked to pharmaceuticals.  Owner was a former director of innovation at one of the major pharmas; super nice guy, really got on with him, liked his perspective.  However, in the office, there were 2 of us; me and a graphic designer, with another team in Dalian, China.  Boss spent most his time over there.  Projects were thin on the ground, and not the most innovative.  Was expected to do market research and PowerPoint presentations.  Frustrating, and frankly boring.  I thought best to be on my way.

3) Web design studio.  Pleasant owner, big aspirations, big contracts with major banks, miserable developers, super dull office plastered over with attempts to force cohesion.  Didn't work for me at all.  Perhaps the most depressing environment I've had to work in.  I don't expect sympathy there, just saying it was maximum dullocity.

4)  Locally run startup providing a restaurant reservations system on the web and mobile.  I was super excited about this one, lots of potential to do amazing things.  Only 2 developers and a graphic/front end dev.  That's to architect the system, do bug fixes, maintenance, handle server engineer tasks, do mobile development, everything.  Overworked developers.  One of the main things here was the reluctance to embrace change.  Initially the web and mobile products didnt sync up, but that got fixed quickly.  The main problem in the end (and I stayed with these guys the longest) was that they expected success overnight without extensive marketing and effort.  There was little effort from some staff there, the ceo has his eyes firmly fixed on selling the business as soon as he can hit a certain valuation, and not everyone was going in the same direction.  What's the point in creating great products if noone sees or hears about them?  Success is not measured from if your friends and family like and use the product.  15 Facebook 'likes' on a post every two weeks is not going to rock the boat really.  Especially when your main competitors have money to burn with marketing and manpower budgets.

5)  One company I'd been speaking to were very keen on me, and wanted to make me an offer, and kept putting it off and putting it off.  Turns out they have no money and don't pay salaries.  Damn.

6)  A social network site with  (unknown to me before I took the job) 70 million users globally.  This was a program manager role.  A return to regular project management.  Hugely disjointed, developers leaping off the ship as if it was the final scenes of Titanic, and a hint of desperation in the air.  I was brought in with the expectation of aligning the team in Singapore with the infrastructure and ops teams in KL and Australia. I introduced regular stand up meetings to keep better track of project progress and have everything in view with clear goals to aim for on a daily basis.  Soon became clear that each of the teams had been run ragged by certain members of authority in the company, one of whom who has had success in other startups previously in other countries, loved to regale developers with exactly what they should be doing and what object orientated programming is.  Very patronising and demotivating.  That said, the developers there were a great bunch of people with years of experience and honed skills.  I found out quite quickly that there was a mass exodus on the way with several key staff members leaving.  It is suggested that the powers that be believe the exodus is down to staff belief in the product rather than the management style not being to their tastes.  Hmmm.  Anyway, I'm away from this place now too.  The powers that be offered up a motivational story that involved calling me a dickhead indirectly; not the best idea.  I'd printed a resignation letter, but they said they didnt think it was working out before I had chance to deliver it.  Oh well. (Update: they don't pay salaries on time either.  What a sin.)

So, I was wondering, is it me?

...well?  Is it?

Then I spoke to other expats here who have been through a very similar situation with other startups in Singapore, and like me, have left them when they realised that they weren't good paths to be on.

I'm not too disheartened, and I won't stop working for startups, as I enjoy the challenges.

In conclusion, I love working for startups, I can channel all my energy, and be directly involved with moving a business forwards.  I feel involved, I'm always thinking about what's next.  I can live the job, rather than just do it 9-5 then switch off and come home.  

Perhaps I'll set my own up at some point.  I've ideas a plenty...

Glass shmass

Google Glass has been all over the news recently showing off it's cool potential uses, and lots of smiley faced Americans with awesome lives and the most colourful clothes purchasable.  At first I was drawn in, I though 'yeah i want some of those, awesome!'.  But now I've had chance to reflect and actually think about how I'd use Google Glass, I'm not so sure. In fact, I know that I don't want Google Glass.

Privacy issues are one of my main worries.  Yeah, all Prism revelation related things aside, Google are trying to attach cameras to people's lives without people even realising where their photos, videos, LIVES data are going and who can tap into it at any point (Barack, I'm looking at you).  I'm not gonna judge if there are evil intentions directly from Google, but things can only fall into the wrong hands when there are things available to fall into wrong hands; if you get my meaning.

People wearing Google Glass are going to alienate themselves because a) they look weird and b) people are gonna be more self aware when being around someone wearing the device...

Does anyone really need to record everything they're doing?  Or can people not reach into their pocket for their mobile device?  Who really needs this?  If you do, then I'd love to hear from you.as to why?

The PS4 slaps Microsoft in the face

Sony didn't let us see the PS4 design when they spoke about it's specs for the first time the other week.

They kept us waiting, they kept us interested.  And at a time when Microsoft is showing us a new version of their Xbox 360 that looks like their new Xbox One console, Sony took the perfect opportunity to not only answer our curiosity with unveiling the design, but to deliver a swift slap the chops of Microsoft.

Microsoft's face should be stinging for the following simple reasons:

• PS4 will support used games
• No restrictions on trading games or lending them to your friends or anything like that
• You bought it, you do what you want with it
• No Internet connection required to do any authentication or checking on game status

That's a win Sony, a big win.  Microsoft, you've been stupid here, really stupid.  I'm please with my PS3 right now, so its unlikely i'll upgrade any time soon.  But when I do, it's more likely to be a PS4 than an Xbox One...

OS X Mavericks

OS X "Mavericks".  I like the OS X "Sea Lion" better :-D but I can live with Mavericks, no great shakes there.

Let's keep this brief, just like the changes involved (although they spouted that there's a lot of changes and features).

Tabbed Finder - This has been done by third parties already.  It's a long overdue feature.  Not groundbreaking.

Maps app - They've improved maps and put it on the desktop.  Good.  You can sync map items and directions to your iOS devices now.  Nice feature.

Notifications Sync - if you get a notification on your desktop for mail, and it's read or dismissed, you won't have to dismiss it from your iOS device.  Neat.

New Safari - This one passed me by a little bit.  Some enhanced Reader features in the side bar.  And keychain sync across devices.  Chrome has been doing this for some time, so it's about time Apple caught up.

Multiple monitor handling and Airplay - Apple finally got their act together and made additional displays work properly. They've even integrated all the Mission Control and Spaces functionality into it.  Looks good.  But as with other things, it probably should've be done a long time ago.


All in all, I'm sure this is a good update to what is already a good operating system.  Users won't be disappointed by it at all.  It's another step towards closer integration with iOS, which is a good thing.

Hardware from WWDC

This is going to be short because I'm disappointed.

Macbook Air, refreshed with the new Haswell processors.  Great.  Longer battery life.  Great.  That it?

Mac Pro, refreshed and redesigned with top spec hardware.  Looks like a cigarette trash can.  Hmmm.  "Can't innovate my ass".  Well....

So where is my Macbook Pro Haswell refresh??

Where's that new iPhone hardware??

iOS 7 - Evolutionary not revolutionary

So the rumours all said that we'd be seeing a cleaner, stripped back UI from Jonny Ive.  Some said it'd be black or white, some said there'd be a move toward Microsoft's simpler plain-jane theme.

Now it's finally here, well, it is cleaner, stripped back, and has several nods not only to Windows Phone, but also to Android in some areas.
The new iconography is easy on the eye, they really do look like beautiful icons.  Great.  But, I wanted more than this, a bigger change.  Because when all is said and done, Apple has made several enhancements to iOS, and yes it IS the biggest change to iOS since the first iPhone as Tim Cook put it, BUT, to me it just feels like the same old thing. It is still just a whole set of icons that you can between.
Where are the widgets?
Where is the data at a glance?
They introduced the "Control Center" by swiping up from the bottom of the screen, so it's a little like Jelly Bean's quick settings access from the notifications area.  This was expected, rather than an innovative new feature.
They've organised the "Notifications Center" a little better and tacked like a 'today' view or something to it.  Did they fix the ability to dismiss individual notification?  Have those user concerns been addressed?  Well?
The lively wallpaper thing in the background sounds cool and looks cool on screen, but I have a feeling it's going to be make people dizzy.

It's flatter looking, no skeuomorphism.  Good.  It's about time.  Skeuomorphism should be outlawed, punishable by having to watch Will Smith's After Earth on repeat for 24 hours.

I could go on all day about all the little tweaks and changes that have been made but, this is version SEVEN of the iOS, and it's taken this long to get to this.  But after all is said and done, it's still the same operating system, I don't think anything revolutionary has occurred here, just some small overdue evolutionary things.

Even so, I can't wait to get it in the Autumn.

Tapped up by a game

splash screen

Ok, so while I'm twiddling my thumbs waiting for WWDC to get it's thing on, I'm periodically being reminded by my iPad Mini and my Galaxy Nexus to give some attention to Homer Simpson.

The Simpsons Tapped Out has been a part of my life for a few months now, and during that time I've plodded my way through the tasks by tapping the exclamation marks over the characters heads to send them to do the things that their character does, and chuckled to myself when their soundbite voices accompany all the fun.

Fun.  It is.  I can't explain the satisfaction of playing this game; I collect money and experience points (XP) and it's like when I was younger, I'd save all my pocket money up to buy the things that I wanted.  Only in this case it's things like Buddhist Temple to get Lenny and Karl in the game, or the latest El Chemistry restaurant to appease Comic Book Guy's urges (tapping on him sometimes results in "oooooh loneliness and cheeseburgers", which is my fave line he ever said).

I started out just playing this on my iPad, but I realised it was available on the Play Store too so I put it on my phone for those occasions when I'm iPad-less (or away from Wi-fi; I was cheap and didnt get the mobile version of the iPad).  Now I find myself playing it when I first wake up, and the last thing I do before going to sleep.  Also recommended it to my wife, now she's addicted too, although she's miles behind progress-wise.

I love how the updates are pushed to the app from the game's servers rather than requiring a new update from the App Store.  Super convenient, and regular updates for the relevant seasons with new tasks and collectables etc...

I uninstalled and blocked Candy Crush.  This game has taken it's mantle.  I recommend it.  Lots of fun.

available for iOS and Android

What I wanna see at WWDC 2k13

Let's keep this really simple.  What do I wanna see at the WWDC today from SF?

1)  iOS 7 with a super funky UI refresh.  I wanna see it made available immediately, although I assume it'll be a week or so later.  The colours on the WWDC logo might relate to things here, though they remind me of Google's GMail Android app refresh.  (I like this concept idea from SimplyZesty on YouTube)

2)  Macbook Air/Pro refresh with Haswell processors.  If I'm honest, I've got a little fetish for the Macbook Air, and I'm in the market for a new laptop in the next month or two.  Would love to see a retina display on the Air alongside those spec upgrades.  By the way, please make 256Gb SSDs the bottom line standard, 128Gb cant fit all my shizzle on it, especially if I decide to use Bootcamp for my Windows 8 fix.  I know Cloud storage is funky and cool, but I still like locally stored shizdiz.  Yep.

3)  I saw in the schedule for WWDC that there's something about bringing apps for iOS to OS X.  Hmmm, is this another step towards the Windows Phone/8 unified-ness for Apple?  I hope so.  But I hope it's not a lame tacked on effort like 'Launchpad'.

4)  The new Mac Pro device to actually be a super phenomenal high powered hybrid beast.  I know this isnt gonna happen, but I'd like to see some new hardware in terms of totally new.

5) iRadio, I don't care.

6)  At least show us whether it's gonna be an iPhone 5S or an iPhone 6, or tell us the specs.  Just give us something.  Please Tim, please.

7)  Phil Schiller.  I love your enthusiasm, but your voice is annoying.  Please don't do a Keynote.  Cheers.

There's other things I wanna see, and I'm reallllllllly hoping that Apple will wow me and make it worth staying up late to stream it live.  Time will tell, and in less than 12 hours, I should be satisfied and gratified in a non innuendoish way.  Yes that's a made up word.