Nouveau by Zaw Thet - Interesting New Stuff

Ok, I admit it...

...I have a slight shoe fetish. This is my 10th pair of custom made Pumas:

For any of you that want to try it out yourself: https://www.puma.com/secure/mbbq/pindex.jsp?ip=US

New blog design

Hope you all like it! Lots of new things here including my twitter feed, all the stuff I read on the web, new photo and more. Hopefully this also means I'll be updating this more!

MIA in 08...some quick updates here

Work: For my most recent (semi-coherent) thoughts I am now writing a semi-regular blog series for iMedia: http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/Default.aspx?AuthorID=9228. Also, 4INFO is a regular in the mainstream press, sample from 08 here. Lastly, check out the latest section of our website (http://advertising.4info.net), which is of course focused on mobile advertising.

Personal: I am also easy to track via facebook status update (feel free to add as friend if you want to follow): http://www.facebook.com/people/Zaw_Thet/207539

I have not advanced to Twitter, FriendFeed, or any of the other various social communication / networking tools.

Stay well and I promise I'll be back soon.

Goodbye 2007 and Welcome to 2008

I haven't had a chance to update this blog lately. Sorry readers, but I'm sure most of you didn't notice.

No bold predictions for 2008, I haven't had time to pull my heads out of the weeds at 4INFO long enough to think objectively about anything outside wireless and advertising.

I'll leave you with some quick thoughts on starting companies and entrepreneurship:

• If you're going to read one book next year, read Bill Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management.
• My biggest take-aways from Swanson's book:
  
  • When you ask for somebody to do something, also remind them why you are asking for it. That way if they hit a roadblock and you are not around they can come up with a creative solution.
  • Always ask for confirmation that people understand what you are asking for or what they to-do's are.
• Paul Soros once told me: "Starting a company is easy, getting it to break-even is the hard part."
• As a leader, your job should be to try and make yourself obsolete: that means you hired well and all the gears in the company are working...allowing you to focus externally and on big picture strategy.
• Culture, culture, culture - this starts the moment you start a company and is never not important.

Have a great 2008!

First Google billboard I've seen

Interesting move from Google. I first read about this in Tech Crunch. I just saw one of these billboards in San Francisco, right on the 101 by the 4th/Harrison on-ramp.

Makes sense to me. Google is flush with cash and offline media (billboards, newspapers, etc) is the best way of driving mobile voice/text traffic since a person is not in front of a computer and needs the info right away! This Google service competes with Free411, which happens to be a 4INFO partner.

Pic from Tech Crunch below:

Phil Hellmuth is a member of the Stanford Federal Credit Union

I was doing a public service announcement for Stanford and look who pops up on the same website. Phil Hellmuth! Awesome!

Whopper Acquisition Corp AKA Google Inc

Google just filed it's $3.1B merger/acquistion plan for DoubleClick with the SEC. Why I started reading it I have no idea. Found the link on resourceshelf.

What is really funny is that Google has a holding company it uses to do acquisitions called "Whopper Acquisition Corp." Whopper? Anyone know why they structure it this way? I haven't ever heard of Google using holding corps for other big transactions like YouTube. And what a name...

Thought of the Day

“Great players make those around them better.“ - I hear that quote used all the time.

Does the same go for managers? Do great managers make those around them better too?

Sound off.

Woot Deal of the Day (Mobile)

For those of you that have never heard of the site/service Woot, you need to check it out. They offer a new discounted product every single day and have built up quite a community of users. I first heard about Woot from Lifehacker.

The problem is that this stuff sells out fast. To get on top of deals, I need this sent as an update to my phone. Hooray for Open Platform!

Check it out, you can use the widget below to get a free text message update everytime Woot has a new product.

Woot Mobile Alerts
Enter your phone number to have new Woot deals sent to your phone. This is a free service with no extra spam!

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Modify existing alerts
4INFO | Get this tool

Technorati Tags: woot, woot-off, 4INFO

How fast can you type?

Remember the good ol' days of Mavis Beacon? Here's a fun site that tests how fast you can type: http://labs.jphantom.com/wpm/

I got up to 116 words per minute the first try. Not sure if that is good or not, but it is certainly much faster than I ever remember being able to type in school!

Courtesy of lifehacker