Saturday, July 25, 2009

Apple Suicide

I'm working in silicon valley right now at high tech firm. Why would I do something so stupid? Actually my early inspiration was watching a film called "Pirates of the Silicon Valley". The movie re-enacted the early computer industry and rivalry of Apple and Microsoft. I was truly amazed by the original Apple Computer Company, and it inspired me to seek a career in high tech.

The original apple company was amazing. It wasn't just a company out to make money, but to make history by doing something unique. Nowadays, I don't like Apple as much. Instead of inspiring unique creativity, innovation, and expression, the Apple of today pushes people to be the same. Everybody wants an ipod, everybody wants an iphone, because it's the "cool" or fashionable thing to do. Maybe it's not Apple's fault, as they still can make some great products, but it's an unfortunate effect of their modern marketing. The old Apple users were unique and different. Nowadays, Apple has mass slave-like following of people wanting to follow a trend instead of set a new one. This is my old Apple that I remember:



Anyway. There's a controversial news regarding Apple. Apple's largest manufacturer of products is a company called Foxconn. Foxconn is a Taiwanese company with manufacturing plants in China. A 25 year old product manager in one of these factories was in charge of 16 of Apple's newest iPhone prototypes. It was discovered that one of the prototypes was missing. The Foxconn managers threatened him, accused him of stealing it, beat him, ransacked his apartment, and possibly other acts of intimidation. The 25 year old man committed suicide by jumping out of the window of his apartment.

Foxconn's management technique is frightening. But I think Apple should take responsibility over their partners. If I were the CEO of a company, I'd be one hecka angry guy if one of my employees or partners treated people like this.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Ethnic Riots in China, Again

Wow, I remember I basically started my blog to write about my feelings about the riots in Tibet last year. Now, the story is all too similar.

Two muslim factory workers were killed on the job in western China. A large muslim crowd gathered to protest, claiming the Chinese government didn't care enough about them. Somehow on Sunday, these peaceful demonstrations erupted into riots, leaving 156 people killed. Tuesday, as retaliation, mobs of Chinese went out into the street with knives and other weapons to hunt down the muslims as revenge. It's pretty scary how serious the ethnic hatred is out there right now.

It reminds me of the ethnic riots in LA back in 1992. Those riots basically started when a Korean lady shot a black girl in her convenience store because she mistakenly thought the black girl was stealing. A week later, a black motorist was beaten by police officers. Everything just starts with misunderstanding, and distrust.

The Chinese government has brought huge economic changes in western China. While the economy has drastically improved, millions of Chinese have also poored into the predominantly Muslim region. The Muslims believe the government favors ethnic Chinese and the influx of Chinese is displacing them of their homes and jobs. The Chinese, on the other hand, seem to believe the Muslims are being too ingrateful and are lucky to live under Chinese rule.

President Hu Jintao was on a trip to the G8 conference in Europe, but cut short his trip to come home immediately to deal with the problem. I think that is pretty cool. America has come a long way in dealing with ethnic tensions, it'll be very interesting to watch how the race issue evolves and plays out in China.

This kind of stuff makes me mad. I think the Chinese should be proud and honored that they have other cultures and ethnicities in their country.