Asian Star from America

Asian American actors continue to make breakthrough in the international spotlight. This article from LA Times introduced me to actor Daniel Henney. Henney is an American-born Korean from Michigan. A few years ago he went to Korea for a TV commercial and now he has become a full-fledged star around Asia. Looks like he's taking a space right next to Takeshi.

He's not the first Asian star from the West. There are Daniel Wu, Wang Lee Hom, Maggie Q, Karen Mok, and many more. What’s particularly interesting about Henney’s career is that he has made one by playing a genuine Asian-American. He plays the role of the outsider in Korea TV dramas and feature films. It’s refreshing and a breakthrough. I don’t know if a American-born Chinese would be able to achieve the same level of success in China playing the ABC.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing how his career grows and if he can take the “pretty boy” idol status his fame currently depends upon and really run with it. Will he be a worldwide star?

Sonos: An alternative music distribution system

The future of music is uncertain. Most uncertain is the how music will be distributed to consumer in the future. Currently CDs are on a major decline and digital download purchases and mobile purchases are on the upswing. However, given all the complicated rights management systems competing, the consumer experience is a frustrating one at best. Apple iTunes seems the do the best job at the moment based on sales. However, a compelling alternative is the combination of Sonos and Rhapsody. Sonos is a in home system that lets you wirelessly fill every room of your house with music. The subscription system means that for a small fee, you can listen to any and all songs on the Rhapsody home system. I think this is a great bargain and you are licensing music and only pay about $10 a month. That’s a real deal when you can listen all you want.

The only thing is how to get this system out of your house and into a ipod or similar portable system? When they can figure that out, then this system can really take off.

Take a look at reviews on Sonos at Business 2.0 and WSJ.

The Amazing Steve Wynn

The story of Steve Wynn is a mesmerizing and inspiring one. He was about to retire after the success of Bellagio. However, he decided to bet it all because he believed it had one more in him. He went all in with Wynn Hotel and now had two super-successful properties in Las Vegas and Macau. And he’s just beginning. He’s brought great change to the imagination and dream of Las Vegas and these two articles prove he is affecting change both big and small. The first from Time and the second from WSJ.

H-P: The PC is not a commodity.

The PC is not a commodity. Realize your competitive advantage, maximize it, and gain the market share lead. Sounds simple, no? As reported by WSJ, that's the lesson we learn from H-P as it realized a better way to take on Dell.

Apple has definitely proved that personal computers do not necessarily have to be a commodity item. Just look at the waves of fanatics that Apple has cultivated to its brand of iMacs, Macbooks, ipods, iphones, iTV, etc.

Companies like H-P and Dell need to continue to innovate and find strategic partners (Best Buys, Circuit City, etc) to come up with more innovative ways to retail their products in order to be more in tune with consumer taste and trends.

Bill Gates: The barrier to change is not too little caring; it is too much complexity.

I’m late in blogging abouit this item but I feel it’s important enough to bring up. Bill Gates gave the 2007 Harvard Commencement speech and the topic of his speech helping solve the issue of inequality around the world. He mentioned there has been no better than for people to help others given the amount of information and connective-ness brought by the Internet.

I tend to agree with him. We can all do more to help those in need, especially people around the world that do not have a voice or do not have the power to improve the situations around then. What we do can vary in degree of commitment and level of impact. But what’s important is that we realize we can all do something to help make this world a better place. It can start out as something small. Just helping a friend, helping a neighbor, or just donating $20 to a foundation you champion.

I have been working on One Foundation for the past several months and I’m amazing by the amount of networking and progress that I can do remotely even while our office is in Beijing. I come across a lot of people with good hearts. It’s good to see that people care. I want to see this feeling spread around the world and especially more among Asians and Asian youth.

Hong Kong is one of the most philanthropic cities in the world per capita. It would be great if we followed their model of care and giving? Let’s all work together in both business and philanthropy. The two are not mutually exclusive.

A good book about this subject is How to Change the World. You can find the full text of Bill Gates' commencement address at gatesfoundation.org.