Old But Reliable...

Recently I visited my colleague's new home which is still under renovation somewhere near the Batu Maung area. As you know in Penang, to own a landed property you really need to be really "loaded" & yet i still doubt about the property price within the island that i think i will blog about some other day :)

Back to my original intention of this post is about the thing that I observed when one of the electrician installing the modern yet sophisticated fan in one of the rooms. That actually triggered the thought the old fan back in my parent house.

I had a chance to snap photo of that old "chunk" of speed control/regulator. According to my mum, this antic was bought from Thailand about 50years ago & it is still kickin' hard...with helps from rubber band & solid woods :)

I like the sound that it produced when we switch it On..it's like the sound of beating heart that still proving "it" is still "Alive" & sustained thru the test of time...

In my line of work, to make a product to work for 50years seems to be an insane goal but come to think again...who would like to use the same old product for 50years?

Maybe for my parents..Yes but absolutely Not for the current generation & based on statistic that I read from the other article even the handphone lifeline is about 2years top. But I do promised my wife that the Nokia 5800 XM that she bought for me will last for 3-5 years...Let's cross my fingers on this :)

I guessed I am just mumbling away in this post and at the same time try to share with you all this piece of antic in my parent's home :) that I think it is worth mentioned about "aliving" for so long :)

Brain Drained...

(This post is coutersy of email from my wife's friend...)
Thought of the day...
The man who invented USB pen-drive is a young modest Malaysian who can't even get into a local University but invented the most versatile, indispensable computer peripheral today. And helped his adopted country, Taiwan made $31bil in the process. The rest is history....

Pua's mighty 'Pen'
Fact file

Name: Pua Khein Seng
Age: 31
Hometown: Sekinchan, Selangor
Education: SJKC Yeok Kuan, Sekinchan; Pin Hwa Independent school, Klang;
Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
Occupation: Engineer/ president of Phison
Electonics Corp
Current base: Taipei, Taiwan
Years abroad: 12

WHEN he set off for Taiwan in 1993, Pua Khein Seng's only aim was to complete his degree in Electrical Control Engineering at the renowned Chiao Tung University and return home to work in Malaysia.

Never did he envision himself heading a multi-million dollar Taiwanese company that developed the world's first USB flash removable disk, which they called Pen Drive.

Pua Khein Seng went to Taiwan to get his engineering degree but ended up staying on, starting his own company and inventing the pen drive.

"I went to Taiwan to pursue my undergraduate degree. I chose Taiwan only because it was too expensive to study either in the United States or Singapore.

"However, I did well in my undergraduate programme and was offered a place to do my masters," explained Pua, who was back in Kuala Lumpur recently for a holiday.

After completing his Masters in July 1999, Pua worked for about six months in a local company before deciding to set up his own venture company with four fellow engineers who had studied with him at Chiao Tung.

"We were confident that we had the know-how and ability to start our own business, which is focused on USB technology. The company is called Phison because there are five of us - two Malaysians and three Taiwanese engineers," said Pua, 31, who hails from Sekinchan, Selangor.

Phison Electronics Corporation was set up in November 2000 and within six months the young entrepreneurs came up with their first invention - a USB storage device called Pen Drive.

"We were the first company in the world to develop the USB Drive SoC (System On Chip) and we were very confident that the market for USB will be huge. At the time, no one believed in us so we had to do everything ourselves - from developing the technology, the chips to the product itself.

"We were only 27 at the time and inexperienced. But we were confident that we could design good systems and chips but we didn't know anything about selling. So, we sought partners or traders who could help sell our products for us," Pua added.

Through smart partnerships and shrewd strategies, Phison soon made its way into European, American and Japanese markets. One quick move was securing Japanese tech giant Toshiba as Phison's largest shareholder and customer.

"We launched Pen Drive in June 2001 and by August the same year, we broke even! From September 2001, we were reaping monthly profits from our invention and there has been no turning back since."


Having established himself in Taiwan, Pua is in the midst of setting up Phison's branch in Malaysia, due to begin operations this
February.

"I am starting a branch in Malaysia because this is my country. I would like to do contribute to its development.

"We have about 100 engineers at Phison in Taiwan, 20 of whom are Malaysians. Though they studied in Taiwan, I had to re-train all the engineers I hire because, like most fresh graduates (in this field), they are not industry-ready upon graduation.

"Unfortunately, some of the Malaysian engineers want to return home after a couple of years because they are homesick, about to start a family and so on. Some prefer to work in Singapore, as it is closer to home. Instead of losing them to competitors, I decided to set up an office in Malaysia where they can still work for me," said Pua.

Another problem faced by returning computer engineers from Taiwan, Pua added, was the lack of job opportunities for hardware engineers in Malaysia.

"There is no environment or support for design engineers here in Malaysia. One of my Malaysian engineers from Phison returned home and ended up as a teacher in a Chinese school! I was shocked and thought, 'After all that training and re-training, he is going to just teach?' I told him to hold on till I open up the Phison branch in Malaysia."

Though he has been in Taiwan for the past 12 years and married to a Taiwanese, Pua is not sure how much longer he will remain there.

"I have really no idea where I will be in 20 years. Maybe Taiwan, maybe Malaysia, maybe somewhere else ... it all depends on my business. The industry is moving so fast that I cannot predict what or where I will be," he said.

For the moment though, Taiwan is home for Pua, his wife and two children even though he misses the Malaysian way of life.

"I come home once a year for Chinese New Year and will usually stay for about two weeks. There are several things I really miss about Malaysia. One is the food! For the past 12 years I have been craving for Malaysian food ... I miss laksa, curry noodles, chee cheong fun and all the other delicious dishes we have here.

"I also miss the lifestyle and quality of life here. When I come back, I am always amazed to see people hanging out and relaxing at mamak shops at night. In Taiwan, most people would still be at work at that time of the night!

"Before I got married, I used to work for 15 to 17 hours a day, everyday. Now that I have children, my wife has forbidden me to stay so late. Now, I go to work at 9am and come home by 11pm. These hours are quite normal for the Taiwanese."

How bottom is bottom in share market?

Me and my friends came into this discussion when we were exploring about the methods of getting "extra" cash fast, easy & low capital....well, you can always head to "Uncle Lim's" or you can "gamble" the legal way -> Share market. The market has tumbled since late last year & many small capitalist like me and my colleagues were always looking for an open opportunity to make a fast buck or two. Actually, to put it in the right prospective..I am not into share market anymore be it local or foreign after got burned last year...although the damage is minor but as the old saying" Cheated once, shame on you; cheated twice, shame on me...well let's not dwell into old tales..

Frequently, i was asked "you think it is time now to venture into share market now? it seems the share market has hit the bottom" As usual, my answers are simple: Who defined bottom? How do you know it is the bottom? Frankly, no one can answer that and my intention is not to pour any "cold water" to them after they heard their uncle's son's daughter's grandfather's uncle had earned quite a lucrative sum after investing into so called "Share market" or "Foreign Currency Exchange".

Most people made a mistake when using historical data as reference to "go in" to the paper jungle & 1 of my advice to them is you can always based on historical data BECAUSE it is already PAST but what you are going to venture in is UNKNOWN. There is no restriction law of getting new bottom hits.

I am not against any "Investment" nor any "Fast Harvest" activities & if this exploration is so fruitful which I think most of people (especially broker that earn tiny commision from your trades) will be FULL TIME Trader rather working as a "cow" or "ant" like most of us.

My 2cents: Think twice before even thinking about "investing" into this & if you really have 1000% confidence (hypothetically, you have news from Datuk/Datin that sign their word on blood), make sure you use your "SPARE" money rather than your car/house loan or meal dollar :)