Archive: Flashback 1990 - 2010
Posted on July 19, 2010
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This is an archive of stories by Anita Devasahayam and Julian Matthews from 1990 - 2009 in various publications including Asia Computer Weekly, AsiaBizTech, The Star, The Edge, CNet, ZDNet, Newsbytes, New Zealand Herald, Nikkei Electronics Asia, The New Paper and The Reader’s Digest.
Some selected popular stories:
- AirAsia: Have net will travel
- Everyday Heroes: Tech Teacher
- Women in IT: Coming into their own
- When teenagers rule the world
- Toddlers on the net: When should you get your child a PC?
- Golden surfers: Older netizens on the info highway
- When old media meets new
- Jaron Lanier: Of dreams and Imagination
- Vinton Cerf: Interplanetary googler
- Kalpana Chawla: Destined for the stars
- The world according to Negroponte
- Nicholas Negroponte: Why bits matter
- Weblogs blur corporate lines
- Levi’s caught with pants down
- Will the real Nissandotcom please stand up
- Malaysian ISP admits ‘human error’ in security fiasco
- ‘Alien’ substance caused Dell notebook battery to ignite
- Toffler to boycott MSC meeting
- Cisco CEO denies he is part of MSC panel
- Malaysia yanks flawed list of advisors
- Malaysia’s MDC admits “slip up”, orders revamp
- Malaysian Web sites still not error-free
- Malaysian chatters the “most abusive” in the world
- Malaysian elections 1999: On the cyber campaign trail
Book review: How your child learns best by Judy Willis
Posted on March 8, 2010
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By Anita Matthews
Published in ParenThots, The Star, March 8, 2010
HOW YOUR CHILD LEARNS BEST
By Judy Willis, MD, MEd
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Parents and teachers who struggle to motivate and inspire their children to learn will certainly benefit from Dr Judy Willis’ book that offers “brain-friendly strategies to ignite the learning process”.
Her combined qualifications as a neurologist and school teacher, who had the opportunity to experiment brain-friendly techniques on her own children, further underscores the value of the strategies shared in this book.
Having read brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor’s book My Stroke of Insight that documented her full recovery after suffering a massive stroke, Willis’ book had a ready reviewer at hand. Taylor had written extensively of the plasticity and capacity of a brain to relearn the old or learn new things. Imagine what a parent can do with a regular kid by adopting Willis’ methods.
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Book review: We need to talk by Richard Heyman
Posted on February 8, 2010
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By Anita Matthews
Published in ParenThots, The Star, Feb 8, 2010
WE NEED TO TALK - TOUGH CONVERSATIONS WITH YOUR KIDS
By Richard Heyman
Publisher: Adams Media
Communications professor Richard Heyman’s book is a refreshing change from the standard staple available on store shelves. Instead of focusing on why parents need to communicate with their offspring, Heyman details the “hows”.
That nailed it for me. As a parent I have often found it difficult to say the right thing to my children and more often than not, I come off sounding as if I am taking sides. Needless to say, most times, the right words come to me only in retrospect. Perhaps I should write down past experiences for future reference. That is exactly what Heyman delivers in the 200-odd pages of this very useful book.
He starts off by sharing his and his wife’s experience of teaching their son the value of responsibility. The latter was 18 and of legal age but was jobless and not interested in college. According to Heyman, his son had always rejected parental authority and they knew they were unable to manage him. The best solution was for him to move out and take charge of his own life.
Guy Kawasaki’s 11-point guide
Posted on June 9, 2008
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By Anita Matthews
Two weeks ago, former Apple Computer software evangelist-turned-venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki made a quick trip to Kuala Lumpur, courtesy of MDeC, to share his perspective of venture capitalists and fund-seekers in conjunction with WCIT 2008.
Kawasaki, who founded Garage Technology Ventures, regaled the audience at NetBASH for two hours with his experience as a venture capitalist and shared insights on pitches that work.
Make meaning
Innovation is driven by the desire to make meaning. Kawasaki firmly believes we should take it upon ourselves to change the world and make it a better place.
Make mantra
According to Kawasaki, there’s a high correlation between mission statements and golfing — it is too long, meaningless and forgettable. Therefore, create mantra for your innovation. Examples of simple and straightforward mantras — Nike’s Authentic Athletic Performance, Wendy’s Healthy Fast Food or Fedex’s Peace of Mind. Unless you run out of options, the Dilbert’s (satirist cartoonist) mission statement generator is not your first stop.
Jump to the next curve
Don’t copy other people’s ideas. Innovators should focus their efforts on creating the next curve instead of remaining on the same track as most companies tend to do, says Kawasaki. He shared an example of ice-making. Ice harvesters stuck to traditional methods and did not move to the next curve by building a factory. Nor did the guy who ran the ice factory invent the factory.
Adam Haywood: Making culinary waves
Posted on November 27, 2005
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By Julian Matthews
Published in StarMag, The Star, Nov 27, 2005
THERE is something fishy going on at the Still Waters restaurant in Hotel Maya. Swimming nonchalantly at the bottom of your appetiser’s bowl is a live Siamese fighting fish.
“Guests love it,” said chef Adam Haywood. “It’s great way to get the meal off to a good start with some animated conversation. We recently held a winemaker’s dinner and some of the guests were so captivated by the concept they’d even forgotten all about the wine.”
He confirms, with a smile, that the fish is not meant to be eaten, that it’s just a garnish of sorts for the restaurant’s amuse-bouche, a bite-sized treat before every meal (the phrase is French for, literally, ‘‘mouth amusement’’).
Haywood was barely a week into his new appointment as the executive chef of Hotel Maya Kuala Lumpur when he came up with the idea with chef de cuisine Michael Koh.
“We try to surprise the guests with the amuse-bouche; sometimes it’s a prawn salad with warm mayonnaise or mixed seafood with mango, or chicken fillet in a crispy basket,” he said.
Off balance: Police Segways faulty, says maker
Posted on October 4, 2003
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By Julian Matthews
04 October 2003
YES, they need fixing, and someone’s on the way to do it.
Self-balancing scooter company Segway LLC is flying in technicians to fix the Singapore Police Force’s four faulty Segway Human Transporters (HTs).
The Singapore police confirmed yesterday that the machines they bought for US$20,600 ($35,500) for trials in June - and seen in Changi airport - were among the models affected by a global recall announced last week.
Said police spokesman ASP Stanley Norbert: ‘Technicians from Segway will be arriving in Singapore within a fortnight to upgrade the machines’ software.’
He added that there was no incident of officers falling off the two-wheeled, motorised machines due to low battery levels during the trials.
Focus on services, says Acer’s Shih
Posted on September 5, 2003
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by Julian Matthews
KUALA LUMPUR: Acer cofounder Datuk Dr Stan Shih advises Malaysia to focus on services in order to get ahead of the curve and compete in a globalised economy.
He said thinning margins in hardware manufacturing and the rise of China as the “factory of the world” has left manufacturing-dependent countries like Malaysia with little choice.
“The services industry is the next wave in economic development. In advanced countries, the services sector comprises two-thirds of their economies. There are higher returns and more opportunities in services.
Book review: Jeremy Rifkin: Still relevant … perhaps more so
Posted on August 19, 2003
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BY ANITA MATTHEWS
How the Shift from Ownership to Access is Transforming Capitalism
Written by Jeremy Rifkin
Publisher: Penguin (2001)
AUTHOR Jeremy Rifkin’s book titled The Age of Access: How the Shift from Ownership to Access is Transforming Capitalism is a bold warning of how society is hurtling happily to a life of “paid experiences.”
Blame it on the forces of globalisation, pervasive technology and the growing culture of instant gratification. But as Rifkin has it, we are apparently warming up and embracing the trend of paying for everything including stuff that can be got for nothing.
The edition that I read was published two years ago, so why pay any attention to a dated version and for that matter, why read this review?
Simply because it is a noteworthy read and a good follow-up to his previous books that included the 1995 bestseller The End of Work, that was on the mark about how technology in use at the workplace will eventually displace jobs.
Malaysians abroad: Plotting a food path
Posted on August 11, 2003
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By Anita Matthews
Yougeswari Subramanian literally fled her parents when she moved to New Zealand in 1991. Her husband Vijay had joined his sibling in Auckland in November 1987 when Vijay’s business venture fell through. “My five-month-old daughter Santhiya and I moved back to my parents home in Buntong,” said the 42-year-old mother of two.
Moving home brought back embittered childhood memories where Youges, the sixth of seven siblings, was forced to cook and clean in her family home. Having lost an older sister, Youges became the only daughter and indirectly burdened with housework. “Even as a 12-year-old I had learn how to budget the weekly expenses, buy groceries for the week and cook meals daily. I could not understand why my mother made me do all these things and felt that life dealt me a bitter blow at such a young age,” she recalled.
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Malaysians abroad: Helping troubled children
Posted on July 14, 2003
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By Anita Matthews
PSYCHOLOGIST Lim Eng Leong remembers his late father’s advice well. “My father always said that in whatever we do, to do it to our best and pursue it to the highest,” recalled the 42-year-old former secondary school teacher.
Coming from a middle class family, the Kuala-Lumpur born Lim could have easily followed his father into the legal world but opted to teach upon receiving his bachelor degree from University Sains Malaysia in 1984. He spent 10 memorable years teaching at secondary schools in rural parts of Selangor that also included a stint at a Petaling Jaya suburb. Yet Lim felt he was not doing enough.