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Steve Jobs Died
I think Jobs DID know that he was in the transistor radio business, and that eventually much cheaper versions of the present Apple products will come up. That's why he was always trying to innovate. To have a successful high-tech business you must always innovate and stay ahead. Eventually someone will make iPhones and iPads much cheaper. Then the next big thing will come out and make a lot of money. Jobs was really good at coming up with "the next big thing" before competitors. Whether his successors at Apple can continue that trend remains to be seen.— October 6, 2011 3:39 p.m.
Steve Jobs Died
RIP to a truly great man. I think Jobs truly was a visionary and I think a lot of Apple's innovations would not have happened without him. I think he is unique in that regard among high-tech leaders - if Gates or Ellison or Zuckerberg or Yang or Bezos hadn't been around I think there were dozens of other people who would have eventually done the same thing as they did. I'm not sure you could say the same thing about Jobs. He truly had a knack for seeing how the user interface for electronic products should evolve - and a knack for making it happen. I know I've said a lot of speculation and what if's that of course could never be proven - but I just think Jobs will really go down as a genius. Apple's dominant position is not just marketing hype - they really have been able to consistently craft products which set a new level for user interface and user experience. RIP— October 6, 2011 11:41 a.m.
ACE Parking, SDPD and my Nightmare from Hell
Your post reinforces all my points. ACE trains their employees and has policies to squeeze every dime they can out of patrons and to not make any reasonable accomodations. Since the attendant clearly saw the writer park into the gym they could have created a replacement ticket or special waiver. Of course, ACE probably doesn't have any kind of accomodation for patrons losing tickets because ACE knows they can catch patrons on the technicality and zing them for extra money. This type of thing is much more commonplace now then in the past - but I think it happens in particular with huge companies that dominate a certain service. Being a monopoly has a lot to do with the customer service that a company gives. Companies that have monopolies tend to have bad customer service - ACE is a very good example.— October 1, 2011 9:23 p.m.
Alfred Rappaport and Todd Buchholz take sides on risk-taking
Both books sound like they have made good sound observations about human nature. I do not think the books theses are in conflict. I think Rappaport's book points out a major flaw in both corporate (and government) thinking, while Buchholz's book seems to offer an explanation of why human nature has led to this flaw in thinking. I think the flaw in thinking - obsession about short-term results and ignoring long-term results - tends to be almost omnipresent in corporate plans and thinking. I don't know why more people aren't concerned about this. I don't hear many pundits express great concern about the extreme short-term thinking. And those that do are scoffed at (see Mr. Bauder's prior article which dares to question whether high-frequency traders looking for results in seconds are actually a good thing). As Rappaport claims I think there must be some flaw in the reward system in place now. I honestly think this flaw in thinking extends to politics as well. Most politicians seem to assess economic plans only in terms of how fast they will "fix" the economy. Very few actually seem to be more concerned with long-term results than short-term results.— October 1, 2011 7:07 p.m.
ACE Parking, SDPD and my Nightmare from Hell
This is what happens when one company has a monopoly - or near monopoly - on a certain product or business. ACE does not feel they have to care about being reasonable or providing good customer service because they know in many situations they are the only parking option and customers don't have a choice. I wouldn't blame the attendant. I would blame ACE management, who probably trains their attendants to squeeze every dime they can out of patrons rather than trying to be reasonable if some small mistake is made.— October 1, 2011 6:18 p.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
I think that there are a lot of good reasons for the U.S. to want to attract highly intelligent and educated scientists and engineers to the U.S. I think that temporary programs, e.g. H1-B program is the wrong way to do this. A technical professional who comes to the U.S. for temporary employment, then returns to his/her home country, is exporting technological and business expertise from the U.S. to other countries. This fosters technological development in other countries which directly compete with the U.S. I think that the H1-B program should be eliminated but that the number of openings for permanent residency and citizenship for highly skilled technical professionals should be increased by the same number of engineers that were coming over on H1-B visas. Essentially, I think U.S. policy should discourage short term employment of foreign nationals which largely serves to export U.S. technological expertise. U.S. policy should strongly encourage immigration of highly skilled and educated technology workers who intend to make the U.S. their permanent home.— March 13, 2011 10:38 a.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
One point that I think may have been missed is that the H1-B system gives big companies like Qualcomm a big advantage over startups. For the most part, foreign engineers are reluctant to work at startups and would prefer the stable employment and large immigration legal staff of a large company. I would also say that this point means that it defies all common sense to suggest that a foreign H1-B engineer is paid as well as an American citizen counterpart with similar skills. Granted, QCOM has a reputation of giving frequent and large raises - but ultimately prices (including labor prices) are based on supply and demand. Prices are based on supply and demand. There is a greater supply of jobs for engineers with permanent legal status than for foreign H1-B engineers because many jobs are not practical alternatives. An H1-B engineer cannot go jumping from job to job to turn up their pay if they are underpaid.— March 13, 2011 10:11 a.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
So do you have any sources/references for your data? I would suggest that you provide some sources for your data before you go on a rant challenging others to disprove your data.— March 13, 2011 9:16 a.m.