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Re: Silo Season 2 Pays Homage to Wool in an Unexpected Way

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Sat, 23 Nov 2024 18:20:27 -0000

FYI Brynna - the first name of Mrs Howey is misspelled in your piece. It is "Shay", not "Shea".

Re: SXSW PanelPicker®

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 18:01:57 -0000

Dr Albright asks provocative questions that challenge audiences to think. If you're a leader, you know that technology will disrupt your business. Dr Albright reminds us that it is the sociological implications of edge technology that are the real agents of change.

Re: On Your Next Big Deal? Double Your Pricing.

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 13:30:45 -0000

The conceit of your argument is uncovering more places to create value. As a shortcut, Bain & Co. lists 30 most likely places to build value based on decades of work. This was published as part of their "Value Pyramid" piece in the Sept 2016 HBR. If you can re-engineer your product to solve more needs, and if you can figure out how to address more valuable needs than merely functional ones, you deserve greater prices.

https://hbr.org/2016/09/the...

Re: How Japanese-American Soldiers Saved a Texas Battalion

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Sat, 16 Apr 2016 13:08:03 -0000

My grandfather was one of those survivors. He was proud of what he and his mates did in Vosges and he was proud that the Japanese back in the U.S. did everything they could to demonstrate their loyalty. However -- I think he would have condemned the idea that what is happening with Muslim refugees and Japanese Americans are the same. First, JAs had been in America for decades and had experienced great hardships in assimilating, for example, having property seized decades earlier, around 1915, because it was illegal in some places for nonwhites to own property. And secondly, despite all that, the Japanese worked hard to prove their loyalty, not just what we know about the 1940s, but extending to the present, despite heavy anti-Asian sentiment lasting well into the 1970s.

There is no doubt that many Muslims are proving their loyalty by fighting in the military, serving in local communities, and speaking out against atrocities. But there is quite a bit of sentiment out there espousing a "live and let live" kind of attitude that suggests that it is OK for Muslim refugees to speak out against the U.S. and downplaying incidents of taharrush, as if the custom should somehow be acceptable in a modern context.

The JAs from that era worked like crazy to fit in and policed themselves. You're not going to find any incident from any internment camp in that era where the detainees of those camps didn't do a better job of policing themselves than the whites did. I know this goes against conventional wisdom, but I knew my grandfather, and I know what he thought was right.

Re: How Japanese-American Soldiers Saved a Texas Battalion

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Sat, 16 Apr 2016 13:07:26 -0000

You're right. All of the commissioned officers of the 442nd were white. Not so much in the rank and file.

Re: Here’s Why We Fell in Love with Draft

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 19:32:05 -0000

Thanks for accepting my challenge! As an early fantasy sports pioneer (working on VR headsets in the 90s and @ffootball on Twitter) it will be fun to see how the whole dynamic plays out over the weekend. A couple of initial thoughts:

(1) What, no trash-talking? Seems like the ability to chat -- or say something -- would be good-natured fun. Of course, with sports fans, one could argue that chat is a ticking time bomb. But -- I look forward to seeing what kind of messaging I get from the app as the weekend goes on.

(2) While there's no doubting the power of fantasy sports, I can't help but be reminded of Hollywood Stock Exchange. What good is an app that only works for less than 20 weeks of the year?

(3) I'm scared to deposit money. I spend half of my time in Las Vegas and I've conditioned myself to not participate in gaming.

And...what's up with Round 2? I guess I didn't see that during my first draft this morning.

Re: Where are All the White People in San Francisco Public Schools?

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 21:14:42 -0000

Here's another thought: what if young white people are simply choosing to not have children? That would be less incendiary but perhaps just as plausible...

Re: The Asian Republican Coalition Is Mostly White and Mostly Endorses White Candidates

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 00:55:57 -0000

LOL it figures; most every other non-Asian response has shown nothing but your trademark condescension. It's quite endearing to us Asians who obviously don't know better :)

Re: The Asian Republican Coalition Is Mostly White and Mostly Endorses White Candidates

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 00:43:35 -0000

I voted for Barack Obama in 2008. Unlike most of the commenters on the board, I'm intellectually honest enough to admit that I'm wrong from time to time, and willing to learn.

Re: The Asian Republican Coalition Is Mostly White and Mostly Endorses White Candidates

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 00:33:34 -0000

I wouldn't go that far. But as this thread shows, no one side has a monopoly on the truth nor obstinate thinking.

Re: The Asian Republican Coalition Is Mostly White and Mostly Endorses White Candidates

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 00:31:05 -0000

Always amusing when whites think they know Asian issues better than, you know, Asians. Were you participating in APIA during 2008? Because I was there and I was running dncbloggers.com at the time.

Re: The Asian Republican Coalition Is Mostly White and Mostly Endorses White Candidates

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 00:16:32 -0000

You really should get out more. Just recently, George W Bush did more to advance the cause of health clinics for the poor than any prior president in the past 20 years. (I've included the link for your reference.) His investment in health clinics was focused like a laser beam on making sure the poor have dependable access to basic services like prenatal care, childhood immunizations, asthma treatments, cancer screenings and tests for sexually transmitted diseases. While it is true the scope of the Affordable Care Act is larger, and potentially solves more problems, the fact remains that Bush's investment in health clinics remains ignored by the spin doctors that would have you believe that the GOP does nothing for the poor.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008...

Re: The Asian Republican Coalition Is Mostly White and Mostly Endorses White Candidates

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 00:09:51 -0000

I'm actually descended from the first Asian to be found guilty of miscegenation, the crime of marrying a white, and it's something my family is kind of proud of. I'm probably a little bit older than you -- but since the days of Martin Luther King Jr, it really has gotten a lot better than it has been in the past.

The real question is, who has the best vision for moving forward, not just white folks, not just minorities, but in a way that is fair and just?

A wise man once noted: "...Prior to capitalism, the way people amassed great wealth was by looting, plundering and enslaving their fellow man. Capitalism made it possible to become wealthy by serving your fellow man." Democrats are rolling back this amazing mechanism that has allowed all kinds of minorities to not only get out of rules that forced us to the back of the bus, but succeed and succeed wildly.

Truth.

Re: The Asian Republican Coalition Is Mostly White and Mostly Endorses White Candidates

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 16:23:45 -0000

Mark, thanks for your comment. The world has always been full of people who would have you believe that there is someone to be demonized. It is because of people like you who have the courage to talk to others that progress continues to be made.

Re: The Asian Republican Coalition Is Mostly White and Mostly Endorses White Candidates

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 16:21:19 -0000

I'm sure to the average observer, completely oblivious to the actual issues facing the Asian community, your analysis would seem to be complete. Amazing how so-called "progressive" white people presume to know more about what Asian people think than, say, actual Asian-Americans.

Re: The Asian Republican Coalition Is Mostly White and Mostly Endorses White Candidates

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 16:19:54 -0000

You must be one of the wishful thinkers who actually believe the sentiment from exit polls is representative of the real world.

Re: The Asian Republican Coalition Is Mostly White and Mostly Endorses White Candidates

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 13:10:11 -0000

Asians have emigrated to the United States in droves because the opportunities are so much better here than in most Asian countries. And since Asians are more likely to be out there working, 55% of Asians actually prefer GOP policies that favor small- to medium-sized businesses and do not impose additional taxes and regulations.

There has been a recent Pew study that suggests Asians also prefer a stronger central government, but it only asked a few questions and did not dig deeper into the nuances, such as tradeoffs between government and small business.

Re: 7 Conditions Comcast Should Be Held to Before a TWC Merger

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 01:18:37 -0000

Besides a compliant Congress and weak regulators, you forgot "impotent Net Neutrality lobbyists". Fact is, Doc Searls was aghast when the people that we trusted to champion Net Neutrality failed to arrive at a consensus on a single, understandable definition of Net Neutrality. It's like anything else: if you cannot concisely state what Net Neutrality needs to do, then you fail to establish a reason to penalize Comcast or its ilk.

At the time, I favored the idea that "your video bits shall not be prioritized over someone else's video bits" over "your bits shall not be favored over someone else's bits" because the latter definition failed to take into account the very real economic cost of delivering 1080p video without a hiccup to a large number of concurrent users. But the lobbyists were even unable to agree on that broad definition, choosing instead on a loose list of principles, hardly the stuff from which mandates can be made.

The bigger issue which I think needs greater scrutiny is this notion that international governance over ICANN is somehow better than one led by quasi-monopolies like Comcast/Time Warner/AT&T/Sprint etc. The original working groups that designed today's Internet didn't just come from government; they also came from the very companies that everyone loves to spit on. I can guarantee you that when it comes to traditional beloved Internet principles like privacy, Comcast at its worst is going to do more to protect the interests of American consumers than the best efforts of the international community, who at the end of the day value their sovereignty over any rights of their or American citizens. The lapses we see between those historically led by American committees and the ones in this new international era demonstrate how active American leadership from Comcast and its peers has instead turned to long periods of inactivity and inattention, fertile ground for malevolence like Heartbleed.

Re: Notes on TV — Benedict Evans

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 15:07:16 -0000

I worked on interactive TV projects twenty years ago so much of what little I know is probably obsolete. But I think you and I have a different perspective on what being over-served means. If the industry continues to be profitable, usage continues to ramp up both on a macro and micro basis, and people are satisfied, then it seems like a healthy market. You argue that the prices "seem high" -- relative to what? International prices?

I submit that the Indian and Chinese markets are well on their way to matching the US marketplace in terms of pay TV costs, as most countries migrate away from the government-sponsored model that most had for the 20th century and migrate towards a US-type market that is more friendly towards creators and studios. Look at the UK, Japan, much of Europe...they have gone from a few channels to a more US-type model, and there is an exploding syndication market brewing as these markets start working with each other.

Lots of creative types have spent an awful lot of money trying to investigate how to deliver more choices to the user. (Heck, your arguments track closely to the arguments people used for YouTube for at least ten years.) But the combined rhetoric of all of the smart thinkers who were solidly convinced that the model was broken rang hollow as the Pay TV biz continued to notch enormous revenue gains at the same time that YouTube usage grew. In retrospect, I think so long as creators are given enough rope and canvas to deliver bolder TV stories (True Detective, Game of Thrones, Girls, etc.), that is the UX that people crave.

There are some areas where it does seem dysfunctional, particular in professional sports and the relationship between TV contracts and athlete salaries. But to single out the TV market is a little off: the big problem in the entertainment industry is the theatrical market, which George Lucas calls "much more adventurous" than film.

Re: Notes on TV — Benedict Evans

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 23:12:53 -0000

What is your evidence that the "USA is a massively over-served Pay TV market" and that "(there are) lots of people who feel obliged to buy more than they really want"? As someone who has had conversations with senior TV people all around the world, I would submit that you have it exactly backwards: the USA has a Pay TV market that attracts the best and brightest from around the world, not just for TV, but to innovate new forms of TV programing, from FX to Netflix to Amazon.

You're also making a massive assumption that the UX is "not quite right". How do you define UX success differently than measuring viewership, amount of time spent viewing, etc.? If we are talking about end-to-end UX then no discussion is complete without talking about the distribution system, where again Pay TV rears its head, because cable TV also appears to be the architecture to deliver superior 4K video with nary a burp whilst other architectures are likely to degrade quite a bit as demand for higher bit rate experiences goes up.

Are you going to be in Las Vegas for NAB? I would love to chat with you and have a more far-ranging discussion of the nature of the TV business.

Re: Net Neutrality and Freedom of the Press in a Digital Age

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 12:07:20 -0000

I think most people favor an open Internet. But for years, Net Neutrality advocates have failed to agree on a single definition of Net Neutrality. Verizon's 2010 proposed definition was in line with this author's example, that Netflix's video bits would not be prioritized over someone else's video bits...not just another giant like YouTube, but also smaller players. Sadly, advocates like Senator Franken overreached and tried for language that would prevent any one company's bits from being prioritized over another company's bits. Anyone that understands the difference between delivering a text message versus an HD video might see why this might not be commercially possible. As a result, nothing happened.

At the same time, we should be mindful of government intervention leading to bad outcomes. Similar to the way retransmission/reconsent was perverted to become a way for broadcasters to make even more money, we seem to be on the precipice of Net Neutrality being hijacked by corporate interests when the most fearful outcomes are where one big company can't reach the consumer because some other big company deems that it isn't paying enough.

Re: The almost-post mortem for Patch

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 05:25:46 -0000

Local needs to scale because its lifeblood relies on digital, and the key to ongoing success in digital is the ability to leverage technology to capture increasing efficiencies.

But as far as "content sharing" and "ad networks" -- while I certainly think the definition of ad networks has and will continue to change, I think time will demonstrate that content sharing is a key performance indicator of editorial quality, just as previous generations used paper-based distribution lists and mimeographs when key stakeholders found content that they thought was worth discussing.

Re: Dear Brands, Our Relationship has Changed

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Sat, 18 May 2013 17:12:15 -0000

That was a great article. I didn't think the HBR discussion quite captured the opportunities of the multi-tenant model -- if anything, substitute 'Netflix' for 'VillageCar' and you start to see how far from being simply a fad, the sharing economy provides a framework for creating distinctly different experiences for consuming the same product.

Why is this important? In the long term, strong players are going to have the market power to obsolete less profitable experiences and move the market towards more profitable ones. Netflix moved the conversation away from the increasing costs of mailing DVDs all over the country and today analysts are talking about their ability to finance incredible programming like "House of Cards", all made possible by their approach to sharing.

All of this is nothing new -- having worked for the cable TV industry, "Basic Cable Plus" was the first and arguably most economically successful approach to the sharing model. As the sharing economy evolves, I guarantee that we will be having more nuanced conversations about "affiliate fees" and how those fees make entirely new approaches to R&D possible. One of the best pieces on this topic was written in 2010 by Bill Gurley:

http://abovethecrowd.com/20...

Re: Facebook Reach Data: Do The Numbers Lie?

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:23:18 -0000

I've talked with merchants who have been similarly mystified in weird behaviors in posts and promoted posts in the same timeframe. Unlike you, they were using only text, no rich media. Such discrepancies do nothing to build trust in Facebook's ability to provide real usage data.

Re: Walled Cities & Gunpowder, Firewalls & Hackers: Ways to Think About Cyber Security & Piracy

Brian Hayashi @connectme — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:53:15 -0000

Two things: steganography and sovereignty.