Dramatically Better and Dramatically Faster

The WSJ's widely followed technology columnist, Walt Mossberg, gives an enthusiastic review of Apple's new iPad:

So, how has the company chosen to improve its wildly popular tablet? By making that display dramatically better and making the delivery of content dramatically faster. [snip]

Using the new display is like getting a new eyeglasses prescription—you suddenly realize what you thought looked sharp before wasn't nearly as sharp as it could be.

Boosting those particular features—the screen and the cellular speed—usually has a negative impact on battery life in a digital device. But Apple has managed to crank them up them while maintaining the long battery life between charges that has helped give the iPad such an edge over other tablets.

As an owner of an iPad 2, whose only advantage over its successor is that it is thinner and lighter, I'm going to resist the temptation to upgrade. It is, after all, the season of Lent when we're supposed to overcome the weaknesses of the flesh.

But Lent does end in 23 days, 14 hours, and 31 minutes, and by then Apple should have made progress on its back-orders.....

Below is Walt Mossberg's six-minute video review (the video uses Flash and--yes, it's ironic--won't appear on iPads and iPhones).

Cheesecake Factory

Two ahi light main dishes, fettucini with sun-dried tomatoes

The word "factory" conjures images of assembly lines, products that look alike, and boring working conditions. Yesterday we went to the Cheesecake Factory, which had replaced the defunct Mervyns clothing store at Hillsdale Mall. The dark, richly appointed interior conveyed the mood of expensive steakhouses and seafood joints. There was no sign of an assembly line.

We were seated promptly, and service was attentive. Because we intended to order dessert (why else would one go to a restaurant named "Cheesecake"? and yes, we are cognizant of the secondary definition), we ordered lighter fare. The ahi tuna and pasta dishes were attractively arranged, light and flavorful. We couldn't finish the cheesecake slices, so we took them home for late night snacking.

Including appetizer, entree, and dessert the bill came to $100 for three people. Neither our waistline nor our pocketbook can afford to come here too often, but the crowds at the entrance assured that they won't need us to stay in business. We'll be back in a few months.

Unfolding Understanding

Paypal executive Eric Salvatierra was killed last Friday when he was struck by a Caltrain commuter train in Menlo Park.

Caltrain is a speedy alternative to driving in the San Jose-San Francisco corridor, but long stretches of track use old-fashioned railroad crossings on the densely populated Peninsula. (Building over- and under-crossings would cost many millions of dollars, and cash-strapped Caltrain has many demands on its budget, like replacing its aging fleet.) We are sadly accustomed to reading about Caltrain-caused deaths related to stalled cars, kids playing on tracks, and inebriated pedestrians.

Mr. Salvatierra did not appear to fit any of the profiles, until this morning's announcement:

The PayPal executive killed on the Caltrain tracks suffered from depression and bipolar II disorder, his family said Monday...."In the past eight months, Eric and Meredith worked tirelessly with mental health professionals to get him through his illness," the family's statement said. "In the end, he lost his fight with this debilitating disease."

In recent years there has been a rash of teen suicides associated with Caltrain. Mental illness, like physically debilitating diseases, affects not only the sufferer but those who love them. Too often the ending is tragic. The family has asked that donations be made in Eric's name to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. (NAMI has two out of four stars on Charity Navigator.)

Hillsdale Station, San Mateo

Surprised We're Not Dead Already

This is troubling:

Eating red meat — any amount and any type — appears to significantly increase the risk of premature death, according to a long-range study that examined the eating habits and health of more than 110,000 adults for more than 20 years.

The study purports to have a great deal of precision about the risks of eating red meat and the rewards for substituting other foods:

adding just one 3-ounce serving of unprocessed red meat — picture a piece of steak no bigger than a deck of cards — to one's daily diet was associated with a 13% greater chance of dying during the course of the study.

Even worse, adding an extra daily serving of processed red meat, such as a hot dog or two slices of bacon, was linked to a 20% higher risk of death during the study. [snip]

Eating a serving of nuts instead of beef or pork was associated with a 19% lower risk of dying during the study. The team said choosing poultry or whole grains as a substitute was linked with a 14% reduction in mortality risk; low-fat dairy or legumes, 10%; and fish, 7%.

McDonald's Mushroom Angus Burger

The methodology that the researchers used will likely be scrutinized in the months ahead. Studies like this one, that are based on self-reporting and not direct observation, are often riddled with errors. Also, there could be alternative explanations such as maybe the people who ate red meat just ate more food, period, or maybe they died because they weren't as rich as the people who could afford to buy fish and exotic nuts.

I can already see what our nanny state masters will do with this study. First they took away our cigarettes. Next, they're going to take sugar out of our food. Well, they're going to have to pry that mushroom-covered cheeseburger from my soon-to-be cold, dead hands.

A Cloud Like a Man's Hand

Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. (1 Kings 18:44)

As an Apple shareholder, I'm not concerned about the big Cloud that's going to store all our data and integrate our lives. It's the little clouds that worry me.

iPad shipping delays: Apple's U.S. website said new pre-orders for iPads would not ship until March 19, three days after the official launch day.

Accusations of price-fixing: "The Justice Department has warned Apple Inc. and five of the biggest U.S. publishers that it plans to sue them for allegedly colluding to raise the price of electronic books, according to people familiar with the matter." [Update: Forbes columnist Tim Worstall thinks that any monopolistic/oligopolistic price fixing in e-books will evaporate quickly in the age of contestable markets.]

New iPad profit margins are lower than for the iPad 2.

The problems that Apple has had perfecting its iPad trademark in China. For those who don't care to watch, the linked video talks about: 1) How Apple asked Amazon to remove the iPad from Amazon's Chinese website because Amazon is not an authorized reseller; 2) Apple's dispute with the bankrupt Proview, from whom Apple says it bought the rights to the iPad trademark. Proview claims it never sold Apple the trademark and has ratcheted up the actions it wants the Chinese authorities to take, from pulling iPads from store shelves to banning all exports of iPads manufactured in China. The WSJ reporter said that the latter action would be a "big deal" but also said that iPads were still being sold in Beijing.

Apple's superb track record makes it very likely that these problems will be worked through. But the clouds are getting bigger, and we'll have to watch them more closely.

Stephen Curry

Stephen Curry is one of the best players on the Golden State Warriors basketball team. In an otherwise lackluster year in which the team will miss the playoffs yet again, the backcourt play of Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis makes the Warriors worth watching. (They are also the reason that Jeremy Lin was cut; with those two in front of him Jeremy wouldn't have gotten much playing time.)

Last night we went to Lefty's Sports to get his rookie card autographed. Yes, we did have to pay a signing fee, but unlike some other athletes Stephen Curry was friendly to his youthful fans and quite generous in allowing snapshots to be taken. He's only 24 years old (another Dragon!) and has donated freely of his time to community service activities.

There have been rumors that the Warriors are trying to trade him to get a "big man" who will elevate them to the playoffs. This season's lost, so I hope that the rumors aren't true. The front office has taken plenty of criticism for losing Jeremy Lin. The criticism will become a lot more intense if they trade away Stephen Curry.

Retiring in Hawaii

When we moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1975, our plan was to live on the Mainland for "about five years" then return to the Aloha State, where we would raise children, buy a house, and live the rest of our lives surrounded by family and friends. As John Lennon sang,

Life is what happens to you
While you're busy making other plans.

37 years later, now that we are approaching the age when we're eligible for Social Security and Medicare, it's time to get serious about that long-ago objective.

Smart Money advises transplanted Mainlanders to abandon dreams of living in the popular Hawaiian tourist destinations unless they are quite wealthy.

...forget about the ultimate in a Hawaiian retirement paradise, the lovely beaches of Kaanapali on Maui. With a cost of living that's 163% higher than the national average and median home prices that are over $1 million, Kaanapali makes even ultra-pricey mainland favorites like Nantucket and Kennebunkport look affordable.

Smart Money's more affordable Hawaiian locales:

Hilo, Big Island - Hawaii's second largest city, Hilo has the accoutrements of urban living at lower prices than Honolulu. Hilo is on the water, but living by Hilo Bay isn't necessarily a plus. Kamaainas still talk about the 1946 and 1960 tsunamis that killed 160 and 61 people, respectively. Currenty we are not considering retiring to the Big Island because it's an hour's flight from Honolulu.

Kailua-Kona, Big Island - is probably where we would settle if we did live on the Island of Hawaii. My maternal grandfather hailed from Kohala, an hour's drive north of Kailua-Kona. He moved to Honolulu after the Great War. The area is the site of our family reunions.

Paia, Maui - is an old agricultural town whose economy is now dependent on the tourist trade, like the rest of Hawaii. Paia is close to the beaches of central Maui and the Kahului airport. Nearly an hour's drive (33 miles) from Kaanapali, Paia is not completely "haolified", i.e., it still retains the rhythms and culture of pre-jet age Hawaii. There's also a family connection: my father-in-law and his siblings grew up in Paia.

Kaneohe, Oahu - To an island kid Kaneohe seemed quite distant from Honolulu because one had to drive there through the Wilson or Pali Tunnels that had been drilled through the Koolau mountains. To a Californian the half-hour distance from downtown is like walking across the street. With a median home price of $563,200 Kaneohe isn't cheap, but on a relative basis it's still less than central Honolulu.

With Hawaii's high housing prices we'll be lucky to break even on transferring from Northern California. Well, there's one financial inducement to make the move sweeter: Hawaii doesn't tax pension distributions, and, knock on wood, we'll have some of those.

iPass

As a longtime consumer of Apple products and as an Apple shareholder, I want to love the new iPad. It's got a higher resolution "retinal" display, faster internal processing, faster Internet connections, and sharper cameras than its predecessor. The new iPad's price range is $499 to $829, the same as for the iPad 2 last year. Meanwhile, the price for the iPad 2 has been lowered by $100.

Over the past decade I've been spoiled by Apple's product introductions, which have upended entire industries. For any other company it would have justifiably been called a revolutionary upgrade (Apple uses the mildly cute "resolutionary"), but to these eyes the new iPad is "just" more, better, and faster than the iPad 2. The tech reporters are admiring, but phrases like workmanlike upgrade give away their true feelings.

My one-year-old iPad 2 is still pretty good, so I'll pass on the new iPad. Besides, I have to save my shekels for the rumored iPhone 5 and iTV. [On the other hand, if the Board of Directors deigns to introduce a dividend, I just might have enough to buy a new iPad after all :) ]

Peyton Manning: Niners Should Pass

Now that Peyton Manning has been released by the Colts, there's rampant speculation about which team he'll end up with. There are teams which even a somewhat diminished Manning could improve greatly. Sports Illustrated's candidates, in order of likelihood, are Arizona, Miami, Houston, Seattle, Kansas City, New York (Jets), Washington, and San Francisco.

Everyone's entranced with Peyton Manning because of memories of what he was before four neck surgeries: one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play the game. The Niners are tempted to make a run at him because they almost---in fact, should have---made it to the Super Bowl this year. The 49ers lost, not because of deficiencies at quarterback, but because of rookie mistakes and a wide receiver corps that didn't show up at the NFC Championship game.

If bringing in Peyton Manning means losing current quarterback Alex Smith to another team, then the cost is too high, especially since Peyton's durability is suspect.

The Niners are almost at the mountaintop. They performed well above expectations last year. The emotions and temptations of this moment will pass. Sticking to the plan, however unspectacular that may be, is the best course of action.

Rush to Judgment

I enjoy listening to Rush Limbaugh. I also enjoy listening to Bill Maher. Though they're at opposite ends of the political spectrum (disclosure: my politics are closer to Limbaugh than Maher), both often come up with insights that never occurred to me.

Rush Limbaugh and Bill Maher are interesting, witty, and very rude, even offensive. They are comic entertainers.

Our culture has long treated comedy as a circumscribed area--much like smoking lounges or red light districts--where people can make the most politically incorrect--racist, sexist, ageist, and any other "ist" one can think of--statements and not be sanctioned. We need safety valves for the juvenile feelings that all of us keep hidden. These outlets have historically been open to everyone, despite efforts to shut them down by one side or the other.

That said, Rush Limbaugh should not have made personally pejorative remarks about Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke. Ms. Fluke had argued before a Democratic Congressional gathering that contraceptive services be provided free to women students, including those who attend Catholic institutions. There are strong First Amendment arguments, as well as arguments about the proper role of government, against her position.

Instead Rush Limbaugh took her statement that "contraception can cost a woman over $3,000 during law school" and riffed on Ms. Fluke's sex life. After the understandable outcry, he apologized.

But an apology is not good enough for his detractors. They're going after his advertisers. They're petitioning the FCC to remove him from the air. Now there's a counter-petition to remove Bill Maher from HBO. (Over the years there have been many efforts to silence Bill Maher; "Bill Maher petition" has over three million Google hits.)

IMHO, we should keep them both on the air. They stimulate the national dialogue, and if they cross the line, their own causes will be hurt much worse than their victims. © 2012 Stephen Yuen

GCB (Giant Continuous Bellylaughs)

Billionaire Ponzi schemer absconds with loot. Mistress' ministrations distract him from his driving. Sportscar goes off cliff. Widow and two kids, now broke, must go to live with grandmother in Dallas.

The set-up for Sunday night's pilot took but a minute. Then the laughs come one after another.

Sample dialogue and visual gags before the first commercial:

The TV reporter, Bridget Sanchez-Fong, is black.

"Grandma, do you have Internet?" "Why would I, I don't watch porn."

"If you need to go to one of those [AA] meetings, don't go to the one at the Baptist church--folding chairs. Chessy Bolton says the Episcopal at Turtle Creek, much better, upholstered, with canapés."

"That's Carlene?" "Carlene's had a little work done." "Little work? That's a teardown."

"Amanda, Amanda, Amanda, welcome home! How long you staying?" "Don't know yet, I'm still figuring it all out." "Well, darling, we all hope you're here for good.....and not for evil!"

"Speaking of lust, look at the men. They're all over her like flies on shh---sugar!"

[Church sign: You Reap What You Sow.] "Hey, Mom, what's that mean?" "That's Texan for 'karma.'"

The show is filled with double-entendres, interspersed with bible quotes. One of the familiar comic devices is the utterance of a platitude, followed by a quick cut to the GCB ("good Christian belle") behaving the opposite.

The first episode was very funny, but I wonder if the writers can keep it up. They need to guard against beating the hypocrisy theme to death, as well as having Amanda's enemies all be one-dimensional mean girls.

The DVR has been set to "record series." © 2012 Stephen Yuen

Xanadu

From our 2008 trip

The history of the Hearst Corporation is remembered by the San Francisco Chronicle on its 125th anniversary.

William Randolph Hearst founded a media empire, was the thinly disguised subject of what some consider to be the greatest movie ever made, and built a castle in the San Simeon hills.

We first toured the Hearst Castle in 1962 and have visited it every decade since. In terms of sheer opulence, classical architecture, and design integration it's one of the wonders of the modern world.

Two Points of View

...about when the battle is won.

Attorney General Eric Holder on affirmative action:

Holder expressed support for affirmative action, saying that he “can’t actually imagine a time in which the need for more diversity would ever cease.”

“Affirmative action has been an issue since segregation practices,” Holder said. “The question is not when does it end, but when does it begin ... When do people of color truly get the benefits to which they are entitled?”

The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on civil rights:

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."

Larger Than Life

AP Photo via the Chronicle

With his unsurpassed combination of strength, athleticism, and grace 7-foot-tall Wilt Chamberlain was the dominant basketball player of the 1950's and 1960's. Today is the 50th anniversary of the day he scored 100 points, a single-game NBA scoring record that no one has come close to breaking.

Before Twitter, Facebook, and Google, before the personal computer, e-mail, and cable TV, there were only three TV channels and one phone company. (On the other hand, there were at least two newspapers in every town, and AM radio was pretty much the same as it is now.)

We got most of our news in print the next day. If we were lucky there were a few photos. For higher quality pictures we had to wait a week to read the issue of Life or Look magazine.

We still had our imaginations. In an era when being 6-2 meant that you could be a center on our high school basketball team, we barely imagined a giant like Wilt Chamberlain. We could read about him in the paper, and we saw his grainy black-and-white footage on our tiny TV's or on the Movietone newsreels. We used our minds to fill in the blanks.

Wilt Chamberlain, like Bill Russell, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and John Unitas, will always be larger than life to this child of the '50's. In the battlespace of memory imagination triumphs over the eyes and ears. © 2012 Stephen Yuen

Two SEC's in One

(Bold added.)

The link to the first article:

Regulators are edging closer to switching U.S. companies to global accounting rules, as the Securities and Exchange Commission's top accountant suggested Monday he was moving toward recommending a long-discussed compromise approach.

The link to the second.

The top U.S. securities regulator said on Friday that the United States won't be rushed into a possible move toward a global accounting standard and will only adopt such a regime if it is good for U.S. markets.

"I don't feel any pressure at all to go along with anybody," said Mary Schapiro, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, on the sidelines of the Practising Law Institute's annual SEC Speaks conference.