By Tommy Leung on 02/12/2012 in Life, Tech
In Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, there is a chapter that talks about the KIPP Academy in the South Bronx. The South Bronx is not a well off neighborhood. It might be one of the nation’s worst. This is not where you expect public school students to excel. But, that is exactly what is happening at the KIPP Academy in the South Bronx. In fact, this happens at all the KIPP schools across the country. What’s their secret?
Outliers references a study that the Baltimore Public School System had conducted using the California Achievement Test on 1st through 5th graders. Baltimore gives it’s public school students the test once in September and again in June. Comparing the scores from September to those in June of the next year can give us some measurable way to determine how much students have learned in a given school year. By the same token, comparing scores from June to those in September of the same year can also tell us how much students learned or retained during their Summer vacation.
The results of scores from over four years found that there is an achievement gap that forms from 1st grade to 5th grade as the score differences double in that time period. However, when we look at the differences in scores from each September to June, no achievement gap exists. Low income, middle income, and high income students all make about the same progress from September to June while they are in school. So where does this disparity come from if the school itself isn’t failing the students?
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By Tommy Leung on 10/08/2011 in Life, Tech
At age 56, Steve Jobs has passed away. It was quite shocking even though the state of his health was no mystery. I found out through a text message from a friend. It was sad news and the Internet quickly swelled with quotes and memories of Steve Jobs. The man will not be soon forgotten.
It wasn’t too long ago that I called myself a PC. Not that it really meant anything, I didn’t know why I didn’t like Apple products. I didn’t know much about Steve Jobs aside from the fact that he headed up Apple and Bill Gates headed up Microsoft. Microsoft was the champion of Team PC and Apple was the champion of Team Mac.
I used PCs all my life so I was on Team PC.
I grew up with Windows based computers. That’s what my parents understood because that’s what they used at work. My parents aren’t particularly computer savvy. I am often reteaching them how to do things with their laptop, digital camera, digital camcorder, digital picture frame, etc. that they promised to remember and understand if I taught them once.
I’ve used Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows ME, Windows ME Second Edition, and Windows XP. I’ve toyed with Windows Vista and Windows 7 but, I haven’t owned a PC with Microsoft’s latest OS offerings–Vista was also terrible so I stuck to XP like a lot of other people did. Microsoft and Windows in particular underscored my technological life from my first computer until I got an iPhone–the 3GS model.
That was the trojan horse that will forever change the way I appreciate technology.
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By Tommy Leung on 08/28/2011 in Marketing, Tech
Before we begin, I am going to tell you that I am here to show how Foxconn is not evil. If you would rather keep your head in the sand and continue to feel ashamed for your using your iPad, Macbook, iPhone, Android phone, HP computer, or a lot of other electronics, you are free to do so. But, I am sick of hearing people repeat economic idiocies they hear from the media so I am going to debunk this myth of slave labor and slave wages in Foxconn factories that produce the very electronics these people condemning Foxconn love to use.
Most of the outrage over Foxconn came about as reports of their employees committing suicide piled up. Why these folks are committing suicide is anyone’s guess. However, this big bad slave driving company gives the families of deceased employees 8.5 – 10 years worth of wages. How evil! The reason people are committing suicide at Foxconn plants is something a psychologist can look into. I am not a psychologist and I’ve never had suicidal tendencies so I don’t have first hand experience to draw from. But, I think it’s pretty safe to say that an evil corporation is under no obligation to pay families of deceased employees ten years worth of wages. A dead employee is not making Foxconn any money. Foxconn sounds like an altruist more than anything else!
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By Tommy Leung on 08/25/2011 in Marketing, Tech
I had an urge to flex my study-demolishing muscles and this study about social networking increasing the risk for teen drug and alcohol abuse found it’s way to my attention–it has also made its rounds all over the internet. Here’s the study in it’s entirety. It was produced by Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse or CASA. As in: mi casa es su casa–I’ve also been working on a Spanish translation project at work. There were a whole bunch of findings but, let’s look at these three first as they were the most talked about:
- Five times likelier to have used tobacco (10 percent vs. two percent)
- Three times likelier to have used alcohol (26 percent vs. nine percent)
- Twice as likely to have used marijuana (13 percent vs. seven percent)
Parents would hard pressed not to put the kibosh on their child’s social networking use right now. Computers are only for homework! 5x more likely smoke cigarettes, 3x more likely to drink, and 2x more likely to smoke weed! My god, hide your kids, hide your wives, hide your husbands, social networks are destroying the world!
Now this is compared to kids who apparently don’t spend any time on social networking sites. I’m not really sure where you find these kids. Do they not have computers? No Internet maybe? Are there really kids between 12 and 17 who aren’t on any social network? I find it hard to believe but, let’s say there are.
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By Tommy Leung on 05/22/2011 in Games, Marketing, Tech
LinkedIn had their IPO and more than doubled their share value in a day. Of course, the whole world is now wondering if there’s another tech bubble brewing. The tech bubble in 2000 wasn’t that long ago so we haven’t yet forgotten about it. But, is this just a case of being wary of getting burned twice or is there really a bubble in our midst?
I don’t work directly in the technology industry that’s booming. I work in the games industry and we’ve received an echo effect from the tech boom–specifically social games and apps. Some can say that social games and game apps for mobile devices have driven the boom but, that’s an entirely different discussion. For the record: I think games are an innovative driving force everywhere but, that has nothing to do with the topic at hand.
It’s safe to say that I’m not an outside Wall St analyst looking in. I’m not saying that makes my opinion anymore valid or correct but, I think I understand what’s happening better than a talking head. Or it makes me completely blind to what’s going on. Either way, it’s always good to get different perspectives.
It’s a Bubble Isn’t It?
The analysts are generally espousing doom and gloom. Jim Cramer says it’s ridiculous, outrages, and preposterous. Okay, Cramer was talking about the way Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and others priced the LinkedIn stock initially. The story goes that the stock was priced too low initially and that’s why we had this ridiculous one day rocket launch that more than doubled the stock price.
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