Dimen Designs

Ryanair Lunch of Champions

Ryanair Lunch of Champions
Originally uploaded by cherbert.

Shanghai Trip - Day One

For those who don't follow me on Twitter, which has taken over my blogging over the last year and half or so (and not necessarily in a good way), I'm in Shanghai for a week of holiday visitng my Dad who's in town giving a talk. Figured there was no better excuse than that and combined with a relatively inexpensive flight, I went for it.

While the internet at the hotel is okay in the room, but only hard-wired, no wi-fi (WTF?) so iPhone blogging and photo uploading is buggy so I have to sneak down to lobby where there , the Great Firewall of China is alive and well. The violence in Western China has no doubt added to the extra restrictions on the internet so I don't know if Twitter and Facebook would normally be available or not, as Techmeme reported (yes, they're an aggregator but you know what I mean) reported that these two sites in particular had been targeted recently to help quell a potential uprising in the Urumqi province.

plane_check
Originally uploaded by cherbert.

Here's the first post in a daily review each day of the trip. 
--------------

Day 1 (first written on my iPhone and then expanded upon when I posted)

1- Films on the plane, 3 of 4 dealt with food as the major component of the plot.

The first was about a German chef who befriends a married woman. This movie shows what happens when you're a true artistic genius, independent of your medium (paint, drawing, sculpture, food, etc.) so dedicated to your passion, that to temporarily escape the isolation mandated by that type of life, the discovery of muse that you adore almost as much can both elevate your happiness while also destroying you.

the 2nd and 3rd movies aren't worth mentiong but have you ever heard of a Tea Off? The was the basic plot of the 3rd movie.

Imagine two guys fighting over a women and rather than fighting each other or doing something even more ridiculous like playing a game of chicken a la American Graffiti, imagine if they decided to have a tea off, who could brew the fiercer tea would get the girl. That was the plot of one of the movies, pretty intense actually, even with the subtitles.

 
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2- Flight attendants had temperature gun that they pointed at the foreheads of a few of us, with the red, assaign-like red dot an everything.

3- synchronized exercise video on the plane as we were about 45min out of Shanghai. Complete with the flight atendants demonstrating the poses and excercises as the flight attendant in the video was doing it.

maglev_train
Originally uploaded by cherbert.

4- Haz-mat like teams in white labratory clean suits boarded the plane when landed in Shanghai checking every passengers temperature with the forehead laser scope gun. Took a few photos.

5- when the Swine Flu paperwork asks if you experienced any kind of sickness or health illness, don't be honest about even having a headache because they will flag you and take your temperature.

6-the Maglev train is warming up to 300kph and on the curves it probably reached a 30-45 degree angle.

7- Nobody queues like the British, which "Watching the English" thoroughly explains scientifically, so the Chinese lines at the subway were nonexistent and pushy. Also noticed as I walked in to the subway that people were crouched on their hams, which is something I noticed distinctly in India.
maglev_speed
Originally uploaded by cherbert.

8- timed the subway perfectly, guessing that it was probably five or six stops and it turned out to be less than five minute walk to hotel. Problem is that it's 80F and humid, not a good combo when carrying a duffel bag with a shoulder strap, which made my right shoulder completely sweat through my shirt. Decided I'd keep that duffel bag slung on shoulder when I checked in so that I didn't look too completely uncomposed.

maglev_city
Originally uploaded by cherbert.

TechCrunch Europas: Optimisim & Creative Destruction Alive and Well

UPDATE: Added a photo of the Herbinator name badge, cleaned up formatting, deleted multiple postings (thanks Typepad iPhone app :), and spell checked it).

Mike Butcher and the rest of the TechCrunch Europe crew did a great job with the 2009 "Europas" Awards last night at the Delfina near Tower Bridge. Lively, packed crowd that was there to drink, be merry, and talk tech shop. 

You can get a more detailed list of the startsups that pitched and the eventual winners over at TechCrunch UK or on TechMeme I'm sure but here were my takeaways.

1- Sure times are tough but you can't kill the entreprenuerial spirit. People were looking for a reason to celebrate a little bit (Spotify was the big winner last night) and there's always comfort in a shared experience, whether it's a struggle or a success. 

2- the Europe v. U.S. flared up ever so slightly when the panel of experts at the break between pitches and awards discussed how increasingly innovative startups are coming from other places. Sarah Lacy had a good thesis on this, stemming from her book research, that we should be looking to China or India. But the question that kicked it off was how European startups should attack the market rollout question, stay local or pan-European service at the beginnning?

Is harder to reach scale if you're only in one market like just the UK, France, or Germany, and that's because Europe is distinct countries and languages. But this is a ever present challenge so how can Europe move on from this question? You can keep using it as an excuse or crutch but you'll only fall father behind the longer you dwell on it.

3- question Malte (my colleague) and I discussed, per the scalability and market size question: could Twitter have started in Europe?

Lots of reasons yes and no but a valuable thought experiment. What do you think?

4- with the pitch part of the night, they were good to average. You gotta practice your pitch, have it down perfectly, and for God's sake don't read your bloody PowerPoint slides. And no music either, we want to hear you, not some frilly electro crap that distracts from understanding what the hell you and your company do.

5- Venue was goodfor networking but poor for the presentation side of the night. Not until halfway through did they get the doors closed off to the bar area. So it was noisy and hard to hear those speaking. That being said, per #4 above, speak loudly when you present to a room and audience like this...

6- that being said, kudos to Scoble for yelling at the crowd to shut up. He's obviously had some practice doing that.

7- Sarah Lacy almost had a wardrobe malfunction with her skirt and the akward stool setup for her and the panel but she deflected it gracefully and there was no Paris Hilton moment.

I'm sure there's more to say than that but it's time for work and them I'm off to Shanghai for a week tomorrow.

TechCrunch Europas: Optimisim & Creative Destruction Alive and Well

Mike Butcher and the rest of the TechCrunch Europe crew did a great job with the 2009 "Europas" Awards last night at the Delfina near Tower Bridge. Lively, packed crowd that was there to drink, be merry, and talk tech shop.

You can get a more detailed list of the startsups that pitched and the eventual winners over at TechCrunch UK or on TechMeme I'm sure but here were my takeaways.

1- Sure times are tough but you can't kill the entreprenuerial spirit. People were looking for a reason to celebrate a little bit (Spotify was the big winner last night) and there's always comfort in a shared experience, whether it's a struggle or a success.

2- the Europe v. U.S. flared up ever so slightly when the panel of experts at the break between pitches and awards discussed how increasingly innovative startups are coming from other places. Sarah Lacy had a good thesis on this, stemming from her book research, that we should be looking to China or India. But the question that kicked it off was how European startups should attack the market rollout question, stay local or pan-European service at the beginnning?

Is harder to reach scale if you're only in one market like just the UK, France, or Germany, and that's because Europe is distinct countries and languages. But this is a ever present challenge so how can Europe move on from this question? You can keep using it as an excuse or crutch but you'll only fall father behind the longer you dwell on it.

3- question Malte (my colleague) and I discussed, per the scalability and market size question: could Twitter have started in Europe?

Lots of reasons yes and no but a valuable thought experiment. What do you think?

4- with the pitch part of the night, they were good to average. You gotta practice your pitch, have it down perfectly, and for God's sake don't read your bloody PowerPoint slides. And no music either, we want to hear you, not some frilly electro crap that distracts from understanding what the hell you and your company do.

5- Venue was goodfor networking but poor for the presentation side of the night. Not until halfway through did they get the doors closed off to the bar area. So it was noisy and hard to hear those speaking. That being said, per #4 above, speak loudly when you present to a room and audience like this...

6- that being said, kudos to Scoble for yellig at the crowd to shut up. He's obviously had some practice doing that.

7- Sarah Lacy almost had a wardrobe malfunction with her skirt and the akward stool setup for her and the panel but she deflected it gracefully and there was no Paris Hilton moment.

I'm sure there's more to say than that but it's time for work and them I'm off to Shanghai for a week tomorrow.