Note from Senator Roméo Dallaire re: Ana’s Playground

After receiving a letter from the Prime Minister Office re: Ana’s Playground, I am happy to report I’ve received a note from LGen the Honourable Roméo Dallaire, Senator re: Ana’s Playground. (Click image to zoom in and read the note.)

WIND Mobile Calgary service review & Interview with WIND CEO Ken Campbell

This is a review of my WIND Mobile experiences in Calgary since joining WIND 20 days ago on March 11th, 2010 plus a phone interview with WIND’s CEO Ken Campbell (see below) where Ken very candidly answered my questions.

Special thanks to Ken for talking to me after WIND launched in Ottawa last Friday.

***

The Switch

I was a Bell Mobility customer for over 10 years, but dropped calls/poor voice quality, non-responsive customer services, and expensive new plans (for the values) stopped me from signing another 3-year contract with Bell.

I also want to give WIND a try after having such a high hope for them when reporting of the news of the government overturning the CRTC decision (where I interviewed Tony) and the WIND launch in Calgary (where I interviewed Ken and Chris) in Dec 2009.

WIND Mobile Review Background

Keep this in mind when you read this review:

I do trust WIND is working hard to resolve the problems and issues. And as you will hear in my phone interview with Ken, WIND is now my only mobile service provider, so if WIND goes down, I go down with it. So I fully expect WIND to deliver on their promises (soon).

WIND Mobile Calgary experiences review

Here are my WIND experiences in chronological order.

1) Pre-Signup

- The WIND website (see this price/value comparison chart) and the few WIND customer service reps I talked to were helpful.

- I signed up with WIND knowing fully their current limited coverage (Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, and Ottawa was added last week). But I also know and believe WIND is working hard to add additional cities before end of 2010 (cities like Vancouver).

Overall comment & rating: The WIND reps were pleasant to talk to. Nice to see WIND’s openness in accepting customers’ ideas/comments and keep an active blog dialogue. So, overall, I say I received good services from WIND.

2) Signup Day

- The Blockbuster store kiosk was quite professional looking and it blended in well with the rest of the Blockbuster location.

- Would be nice if the salesperson had a bit more in-depth knowledge of the basic features of the phones (in my case, the Samsung Gravity 2).

- After I signed up, unfortunately, this WIND location, didn’t have the proper and up-to-date software to transfer phone numbers from my old cell phone to my new phone. The 15+ minutes wait didn’t do any good as the rep didn’t have the computer privilege to install the new software update.

- I asked WIND to port my existing phone number over. And that gave me my first taste of inconsistent information and services. You see, I was told previously on the phone by a WIND agent that porting of existing phone number will take less than 4 hours. At the store, I was told the porting process might take 24 to 48 hours even I bought my old phone bill so they could have the exact information need to do a smooth phone number porting.

- By the way, this may be a bit of a speculation but if Blockbuster was to go bankrupt as some in the business community were talking about, I don’t know how will WIND adjust and how quickly.

Overall comment & rating: I had expected more from WIND and was a bit disappointed.

3) Ongoing experiences

WIND was launched in Calgary over 3 months ago in mid-Dec 2009, so I thought all of the basic and key problems/issues should/would have been solved already. Unfortunately, there remain to be some key problems.

3a) Static/Noise

There were random static/noise during phone calls since day one. Looking at the bright side, the frequency of the static/noise seems to be dropping in the last few days, so I hope all the static will soon be gone completely. Good voice quality is so basic that it is disappointing to experience static/noise.

3b) Dropped Calls

Some local and long distance calls were dropped in the middle of a conversation. And these dropped calls have been very annoying and even more unacceptable than the static/noise.

3c) Unable to make calls

In two separate cases, once when driving and once when not moving, in both cases I were well-within the Calgary WIND covered area (i.e. not at the edge of the network), I was unable to make calls. In the case while I was driving, I kept redialling for 5 times within 3 minutes but got no connection even the screen said “WIND Home”.

3d) “Limited Service”

Well, it wasn’t nice when one night I saw my phone display turn from “WIND Home” to “Limited Service” out of the blue. Sure, it went back to “WIND Home” 5-10 minutes later, but that was a bad experience at 8:30pm.

3e) The unlimited calling

To end on something positive, it was nice to have unlimited anytime minutes and also unlimited Canada-wide calling with no long-distance charge for the $45 plan that I have.

Overall comment & rating: I’ve downwardly adjusted my expectations of WIND’s service quality. Yes, I am disappointed of the problems I’ve faced so far but I am willing to give WIND a little bit of time to work out its problems and improve.

Here is a telling question I can ask myself:

Would I rather have WIND resolved all its technical issues before launching in Calgary? My answer will be, “Absolutely NOT!” You see, I would rather endure some short term service problems that will/should improve in time, instead of being locked-up in another 3-year contract with any of the existing service providers.

***

Phone Interview with WIND’s CEO Ken Campbell

After WIND launched in Ottawa last Friday, Ken was very helpful and gave me a chance to interview him to talk about some of the serious problems I have experienced with WIND. I want to thank Ken again for his time and his candid answers.

Here is my phone interview (mp3) with Ken (or you can stream the interview here) where I asked Ken about many of the problems I experienced in Calgary and also about WIND’s expansion plans, etc.

***

Concluding thoughts

On the day I signed up with WIND, I honestly felt and wanted to post the line,

“Free at last! Free at last! I am free from Bell at last!“

Sure, I wish WIND was perfect and I didn’t have any voice problems. But in the long run, I am very happy that I did not sign another contract and locked myself into another 3-year jail sentence with anyone.

Since WIND doesn’t use contract and penalties to lockup customers, it has to earn my business every month. And WIND has to show its customers that it is working hard to improve the services. Unless WIND improves its call qualities and its services quickly, it may not be able to keep its existing customers and recruit more customers.

If you are a WIND customer in Calgary or thinking of joining WIND in Calgary, please leave a comment to share your thoughts.

2 x iFund = $200m (KP & iPad)

For the record and some links, “Kleiner Perkins’ Doubles Down The iFund To $200 Million For the iPad“.

BRCA1 & BRCA2 test for breast & ovarian cancers ruled not patentable by US Federal District Court in Manhattan

From Business Week, “Myriad Genetics falls as gene patents are voided“,

“[...] a court overturned a group of patents on gene sequences linked to breast cancer and ovarian cancer, which Myriad uses in tests for those diseases.

Myriad Genetics sells a test for mutations on the two breast cancer predisposition genes, which are called BRCA1 and BRCA2, and says those mutations are connected to greatly increased risks of cancer. The company holds patents on several DNA sequences from the gene, but its patents were challenged a year ago in a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups. On Monday, a U.S. District Court Judge ruled against the Myriad Genetics.”

More info from the gene patent page at Wikipedia.

65_RedRoses (Eva Markvoort) dies at 25

Eva Markvoort, 65_RedRoses (website, Facebook, blog & Twitter), dies at 25 (Vancouver Sun, Time Colonist).

The documentary 65_RedRoses will broadcast again in Canada on Friday April 2nd, 2010 on CBC News Network at 4am & 8pm ET and 5pm PT. (or you can watch the full documentary online now)

Please think about organ donation, talk to you family members and possibly signing a organs donation card.

2010 NAB Show: Creators of ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Set to Breathe 3-D Fire

I will be attending the NAB Show for the first time this year. Amongst the many things I know I will see, I am looking forward to this April 12th presentation.

Creators of ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Set to Breathe 3-D Fire at the NAB Show

‘How to Train Your Dragon’ – A Case Study” is set for Monday, April 12. [...]

In this comprehensive and revealing session, several of the filmmakers behind “How to Train Your Dragon” will detail how story, 3D imagery and sound were brought together to create the film that has since become the best-reviewed movie of the year. Members of the panel will include the following DreamWorks Animation filmmakers: writer-director Dean DeBlois; Academy Award-winning sound designer and mixer Randy Thom; production designer Kathy Altieri and head of layout Gil Zimmerman.

“3D filmmaking – and specifically 3D animation – are hugely relevant topics for NAB Show attendees this year,” said Chris Brown, executive vice president, conventions & business operations for the NAB Show. “It will be fantastic to have some of the key players behind the artistry of ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ on our stage to present a case study for this wonderful and innovative adventure.”"

After researching for “2D, 3D, IMAX fake 3D, and IMAX real 3D“, I know I need to understand 3D more. I’ve got my hunch for 3D animations but I want to be sure if my understanding/guesses are anywhere close.

RT: Reactions from China on Google

Worth a read “Reactions from China on Google“,

“Fauna” at ChinaSMACK has done a valuable public service by hanging out in Chinese forums and translating netizen reaction to Google.cn’s relocation to Hong Kong.

Dennis Hopper’s star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame

Congrats Dennis. Comments from CNN, insightful interview from Hollywood Reporter. Further news from ABC.

From “Ailing Dennis Hopper gets a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame“,

“Everything I learned — I got it all from you, so this has been my home and my schooling,” Hopper said.

“And I love all of you,” he said. “And I just want to thank you. That’s all I can do.”

Crossroad

The following is a reply I wrote to a blogger who is in a crossroad and contemplating if a career change is needed. The blogger has been working for almost two years since university graduation.

———

Hi,

I can’t and won’t give you any advice of what you should do or should not do. It is your life to live.

What I can share with you is my personal experiences and thoughts. I did, for 10 years, what I was trained in school to do (computer science) and I enjoyed those years and I can say I was involved in some cool projects. 10 years of working gave me some stability (financially and emotionally) to go on to try something different. Plus I was realizing I wasn’t aspiring to be my boss or my boss’ boss (both have more responsibilities and must have been making really good money as well).

Now, for the last 10 years, I have been doing more of what my first career was not. Including going back to school to get a Masters degree in business and then went ahead to make a documentary (which I had no formal training in), etc. Some would say (including my loved ones) in the last 10 years, I was like a “rolling stone”, meaning I never quite stopped to do things in a “standard” or “traditional” manner.

For me, this process of explorations, trying new things, doing things that I “really” should have no business in doing, all these activities excite me, energize me, and I think better equipped me for the 21st century (I hope).

At the end of the day, we have one life to live, all we can do is to treasure it and use it well, as best as we can. Sure, we all want our loved ones (parents, spouses, friends) to be proud and be happy for us, but if we are not happy ourselves, it is harder to bring joy to others.

Speaking as someone who left school almost 20 years ago, it is good to be thoughtful and reflective and ask ourselves questions. To me, life is something too precious to set on “auto-pilot” and simply do things without asking what our hearts and what our heads think.

Good luck.

Take care,
Kempton
Calgary, Canada

———–

P.S. In my original email, I wanted to mention Frank McCourt‘s beautiful and insightful ‘Tis but ultimately decided against it. Because I promised I won’t give any advice plus I had previously recommended ‘Tis.

Beautiful ! Virgin flight of Virgin Galactic’s VSS Enterprise: Photo Gallery

Beautiful ! Virgin flight of Virgin Galactic’s VSS Enterprise: Photo Gallery

Nanotube RFID: Better Barcodes?

MIT Technology Review, “Nanotube RFID: Better Barcodes?“

[via PopSci]

Plastic Bag By Ramin Bahrani

Beautifully shot and no digital effect used. Well made PSA.

[via BMD]

Interview with Lixin Fan, director of “Last Train Home”

Last week I reviewed the wonderfully made documentary “Last Train Home” and highly recommended it. To celebrate the film’s screening at the prestigious Hong Kong International Film Festival on March 26th & 29th, the following is my email interview with the film director Lixin Fan. My questions are in bold, follow by his answers.

1) From what I could tell, the film was filmed, at least, in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Was I right? How many trips did you make to China and how many hours of raw footage did you end up shooting? What equipment did you use to shoot the film?

We’ve done seven filming in China ranging from a few months to a few weeks in the course of three years. We have roughly 300 hr of raw footage shot over three different cameras – DVCPRO 50, and then small handheld HD cameras Panasonic HVX-200 and Sony EX-1

2) How did you come to select the Zhang family to feature? Did you know them before? Were you worry, at any point, that they might pull out from the documentary project? Tell me more please.

I traveled to city of Guangzhou for my research where I visited many factories. I strolled around these factory neighborhoods and talked to the workers I met. I didn’t know the Zhangs before. When I first met the them, they were cautious about discussing their family lives, but I revisited them many times in the following weeks and we became friends. I wanted to film with them because I think their story of migrating for nearly two decades. Their story represents the lives of millions and also touches upon many complicated social issues that China is experiencing.

3) The scene where the parents fought with Qin was very hard to watch but ultimately very important to tell the story. Can you tell me what you were thinking at the time? Was it tough for you and the sound person to keep shooting?

The moment the father hit the daughter, I as in another room, my cameraman was shooting. I heard the shouting and came to the scene, and went into the frame to calm everyone down. A that point, I asked myself, shall I put down the camera or shall I capture this emotional moment to give the film a stronger narrative to reach a larger audience and eventually create changes? In such a conflict of ethics versus professionalism, everyone is challenged to make a sensible decision. I chose the greater good, but very importantly, not at the cost of creating harms. The Chinese believe that the world in which we live is not a world of black and white. As the Taoism’s yin and yang philosophy explains: every action creates a counteraction as a natural and unavoidable movement. Also, as the Taoijitu diagram shows, there is black in white, and also white in black.

4) Have all the family members in the film seen the film yet? If you have, what were their reactions? In particular, what was Qin’s reaction? If not, do you plan to show it to them?

I went back to Guangzhong at end of last year to show the film in Guangzhong Documentary Film Festival. The couple still works in that city. My crew member and I visited the Zhang couple again and wanted to show them the film (Qin is working in another province and I didn’t meet her.) The Zhangs couple is quite happy to see us coming back to visit, but they preferred to watch the film by themselves. I respected their choice and gave them a DVD of the film. After watching the film, the father told me it made him sad to watch three years of their life on the screen; and the mother told me till this day she still couldn’t understand why Qin hates them so much.

5) I understand your film will be premiering in Hong Kong International Film Festival and you will be attending the March 29th screening (which is sold out).
If my memory serves me, HKIFF will be your film’s Asia premiere, how do you feel about your film screening in Hong Kong,China?

I think it is a great honor to have Last Train Home to be premiered in the prestigious HKIFF. As a special part of China, freedom and democracy are more generously allowed than in mainland. HK is a city known as the financial power house for Asia therefor. It’s an important link in the global trade chain. I’m curious to see how would the HK audience find the film in their own context.

6) Do you keep in touch with the Zhang family? In particular, Qin? The film certainly ended on a note that the audiences are worried about Qin. And knowing how slippery that the slope she was standing, I am worried about her. Do you have an update on Qin?

Yes, I still keep a close relationship with the Zhang family. I often call the couple to ask about the updates in life and at work. The couple went back to the New Year this time. The mother told me that Yang (the boy) got a number one in his class this year. Monther spent eight month at home caring the boy and fields. The father told me business in their factory is picking up since the economic is bettered from last year. So, once again, both the mother and father are about to leave home for work after the New Year.

The mother also told me Qin called to say happy new year but she didn’t came back home. Apparently she found work in a hotel at a small city in Hubei province. She’s 20 years of age this year, and I think she is definitely claiming her independence from her parents now.

7) I may have other followup questions, but I will start with the above questions for now. Thanks a lot for answering my questions.

If I may add one small thing in the end, I’m working on my next film which is on environmental issues in China. China is currently building a Wind Farm on Gobi desert and aim to complete the project in the next 10 years. The wind energy produced by the Wind Farm is going to be exceed that of Three Gorges Dam, and therefore, named “Three Gorges on Land.” Besides documenting China’s effort to focus on and implement green energies, I want to explore the balance between industrial development and nature sustainability through the philosophy of Taoism; for example, how much control human should place on nature; how far we can go in developing our society as the expense of exploiting the environment, etc

After Google.cn & Google.com.hk, What will Microsoft do in China?

By now, you may have all heard or read about Google’s new approach to China. What we don’t know is what would other search engines in China will do?

In the editorial of one of the most widely read newspaper Apple Daily in Hong Kong “蘋論：好馬．聰明馬．草泥馬 – 李怡 – 2010年03月24日“, one sentence got my attention.

“此外，北京高官透露，中國已私下和微軟達成共識，只要微軟的搜索引擎 Bing遵守中國法律，中國將會扶持 Bing取代谷歌在中國的地位。”

Here is my English translation,

Furthermore, according to a senior Beijing government official, Chinese government has privately reached a consensus with Microsoft. As long as Microsoft’s search engine Bing abides by Chinese law, China will support Bing to replace Google in China.

If the above editorial report is correct, it shows Microsoft is willing to do anything for a few bucks. Borrowing the sentiment of the author of the Apple Daily editorial 蘋論, I want to say “草泥馬 “Grass Mud Horse”” to Microsoft.

P.S. For those that can read Chinese, I’ve reposted the full Apple Daily editorial at the bottom of this post.

AdAge: Customer Service Is Either Great or Terrible?

Had a great time reading AdAge’s “Customer Service Is Either Great or Terrible – Is Anticipating Problems More Effective Than Responding to Them?” Here is an excerpt,

“I traveled extensively a couple weeks ago and suffered the usual indignities and disappointments of uneven customer service. You know the drill so I won’t bore you with details, except one: After a pleasant, issue-free stay at a hoity-toity London hotel, the guy behind the front desk wouldn’t extend my checkout time by an hour. He shrugged apologetically. I will never stay there again.

I’ve realized that I’m about as loyal as a fruit fly is long-lived.

It’s really unfair, if you think about it. The place did dozens of things just fine, if not exceeding my mostly unconscious expectations. But that one customer experience erased all of it and left me with the conclusion that the hotel isn’t worth visiting again. When I complained about it to a friend, he said that I might get a discount if I tweeted my dissatisfaction. This got me thinking about our approach to customer service, and I wanted to throw some questions at the CMO community that I’ve been asking myself:

Is customer experience a relationship or simply a series of events?
I wonder if there’s any collective loyalty beyond the last interaction. [...]“

So I left Jonathan a comment.

Hi Jonathan,

Really enjoyed your thought-provoking article. At the same time, I think it is flawed by its incomplete consideration of the social media impact.

In our new social media age,
- The single customer can split/multiply “socially”.
- The single great/terrible experience can amplify/multiply “socially”.
- New and some-what strange metrics of “dis-revenue per employee” and “dis-revenue per customer” need to be created to complement the traditional metrics of “revenue per employee” and “revenue per customer”.

When I can find some time, I will try to finish writing the following business case which I created as a placeholder in Feb 2010 when the Southwest news was hot.
“No LUV for Southwest Airlines: How to crash a brand in less than 100 hours in a perfect social media storm – A business case study (draft / beta)“

Cheers,
Kempton
Calgary, Canada

NFB online anti-racism film project featured in Huffington Post

This reporter is excited to see the NFB online anti-racism film project featured in Huffington Post,

2. Racism is so last century/NFB
March 21 is International Day for the Elimination of Racism. To shake things up a little, check out Jaded, a sharp and funny mockumentary that uses role reversal to highlight racial discrimination. It’s from Work for All, a joint venture between the National Film Board of Canada and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (New Radical Innovators!!). NFB films are now available on Air Canada flights (how radical is that?). I’ve written about the NFB before — about filmmaker Katerina Cizek and how technology can be used as a tool for social change. Coming soon from Katerina and the NFB: a multi-media, multi-year collaborative project about the human experience in highrise apartment buildings around the world.

You can watch the full short mockumentary Jaded here at NFB (very funny).

Google’s new approach to China

After weeks of waiting since,
“Google.cn decision (part 1)“
“Google.cn decision (part 2) and China’s Foreign Ministry & White House responses“
“More Google China photos“
“US diplomatic note re Google China“
“Sergey Brin on Google’s China decision @ TED“
Today, we finally have Google’s new approach to China.

So earlier today we stopped censoring our search services—Google Search, Google News, and Google Images—on Google.cn. Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected to Google.com.hk, where we are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong.

[...] Figuring out how to make good on our promise to stop censoring search on Google.cn has been hard. We want as many people in the world as possible to have access to our services, including users in mainland China, yet the Chinese government has been crystal clear throughout our discussions that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement. We believe this new approach of providing uncensored search in simplified Chinese from Google.com.hk is a sensible solution to the challenges we’ve faced—it’s entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access to information for people in China. We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services. We will therefore be carefully monitoring access issues, and have created this new web page, which we will update regularly each day, so that everyone can see which Google services are available in China.

Customer service audit: Twinings of London (the tea company)

(all photos by Kempton Lam)

This reporter had a wonderful tea party with friends in Calgary this past Saturday. We had some tasty food (see the following food pix) with Twinings tea. Observant readers may have noticed the above tea bag is actually an empty tea bag with no tea leafs!

When I saw the empty Twinings tea bag, I immediately thought, “Hmm, looks like Twinings had a manufacturing process glitch.” And I decided this could be turned into a nice opportunity to check/audit Twinings’ customer service which is exactly what I did this morning.

The process is simple, I looked up the 1-800 number on the package (it is printed on side of the 100 tea bags package) and called them to tell them what happened. The customer service lady was very nice and efficient in getting my information and address. And she promised to send me a replacement (I presume another package of 100 tea bags) which I suggested I would like to have some Twinings Green tea instead (specifically the Twining Green Tea and Jasmine Green Tea) to try. The customer service lady had no problem with my suggestion and told me  the tea will be shipped to me in 3 to 5 business days.

Great service. Twinings has managed to keep me as a loyal and happy customer.

You see, free product replacements and even refunds (for customers to buy any products the company make) are the minimum basic of good customer services in the days of multi-millions and billion-dollar brands.

So next time you see products that don’t meet your expectations, don’t hesitate to call up customer service or use that “satisfied or money back” guarantee, because you are actually helping the companies to do a better job and make more money in the long run.

Roger Martin, dean of Rotman School @ UT, talks about The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage

In this Business Innovation Factory podcast, Roger Martin, dean of Rotman School @ UT, talks about The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage.

Quantum Dots/Film to transform digital cameras?

Interesting read: “Startup Says Quantum Dots Can Transform Cellphone Cameras” (WSJ) and “InVisage aims to remake camera sensor market” (CNet). (company sites: InVisage and QuantumFilm Technology)

My question/comment is this: Sure, you may be able to slap a 12-megapixel sensor on a mobile phone camera, but unless there are great improvement in the lens’ optics, how are you go to get good quality non or less distorted light through the crummy lens?

Megapixel is NOT everything. The lens plays a key role in good picture too.

P.S. As a technology geek, I love technological advancement but we can’t ignore the rest of the components in a system. And to me, the stupid and tiny lens will be a problem/limitation for sometimes to come.

P.S.