Author: Newley

Hi. I'm Newley Purnell. I cover technology and business for The Wall Street Journal, based in Hong Kong. I use this site to share my stories and often blog about the books I'm reading, tech trends, sports, travel, and our dog Ginger. For updates, get my weekly email newsletter.

Categories
Thailand

New York City Fire Hydrant Poles Marked ‘Thailand’ (Updated)

Update, October 22:

I’m embedded, at the end of this post, some responses I received on Twitter.

File under: Unsolved mysteries…

Here’s a photo I snapped recently of the top of a metal post built next to a fire hydrant here in New York City.

Yes, it says “SA Thailand 5.”

Photo

The post is one of several I’ve seen that are positioned as barriers to protect fire hydrants from cars, much like the two posts in this photo.

Why does this post say Thailand on it?

I’ve done some searching online, and can’t find any references to a company called “SA” (or with any name that would be abbreviated SA).

Could this simply be a straightforward — though somewhat odd — case of New York City officials purchasing less expensive goods from abroad rather than paying more for American-made items, as seemed to be the case with the NYC manhole covers from Kolkata?

Does anyone have any thoughts?

I’ll keep you posted as I learn more…

Categories
Tech

My Tweets from Eric Schmidt’s Talk with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher

Tweets from Eric Schmidt’s Talk with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher

Storified by Newley Purnell · Wed, Oct 10 2012 19:37:54

Another evening, another interesting event.

Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman, chatted with the Wall Street Journal‘s Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at the 92nd Street Y here in New York tonight.

Their conversation touched on the so-called “Gang of Four” (Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook), the importance of the mobile sector, technology in education, patent wars, quality journalism,  and — yes — PSY.

Here are my Tweets, in reverse chronological order.

To sum up, Schmidt @ #92YDigital: Gang of Four persists. Huge potential in mobility. Innovation key. "Patent wars are death."Newley Purnell
Schmidt says future biz might involve celebrity driven news brands. In online world, people care what celebs think. #92YDigitalNewley Purnell
Schmidt: promise in digital-1st approach like @ Politico and HuffPo. And established brands like WSJ and NYT will survive. #92YDigitalNewley Purnell
Summing up: Schmidt at @ #92YDigital: Ailing newspapers means less investigative journalism. That’s bad…Newley Purnell
@EricSchmidt says @HuffingtonPost and @Politico are innovative news models of journalism’s future. #92YDigitalKhadeeja Safdar
Talk over. Will share a few final thoughts from Eric Schmidt on quality journalism…Newley Purnell
Asked if Google would buy Twitter: Schmidt says can’t comment on M&A. But bullish on Twitter. It’s “place where news breaks fast.”Newley Purnell
Schmidt: Next big thing: more mobility. Innovation possible w/ devices is incredible. Also: big data. Getting closer to true AI.Newley Purnell
Schmidt: we don’t talk about future products and services specifically but “we have a lot of stuff coming.”Newley Purnell
Schmidt on self-driven car: better to think of as autopilot. Will have button to disconnect. Doesn’t say when thinks cars’ll be mainstream.Newley Purnell
Schmidt on tech in ed: massive online courses are just version 1. Very little innovation and competition in K-12. Hopes can change.Newley Purnell
Schmidt on @Google cars: “it’s an error that we drive cars. A 100 year old error.” Likely scenario: car companies use some features.Newley Purnell
.@ericschmidt says @Google’s goal is to be at the center of the information revolution. #92YDigitalSree Sreenivasan
Schmidt on PSY and Gangnam Style: he is “truly expression of a new form of celebrity.”Newley Purnell
Schmidt: “Patent wars are death.” Bad for innovation. And annoying.Newley Purnell
Schmidt: survey shows there’s 4x as many Android phones as iPhones. Mobile is where it’s at. Bigger than PC industry and growing.Newley Purnell
Schmidt: “Apple should have kept with our maps…what Apple has learned is maps are really hard.”Newley Purnell
Swisher: w/ Facebook’s stock struggles, is it Gang of 3.5 now? Schmidt: No, 4. FB has 1 billion users. You can make money off that.Newley Purnell
From 8 p.m. EST I’ll be sharing tidbits from 92nd St. Y talk w/ Google exec. chairman Eric Schmidt, @waltmossberg, & @karaswisherNewley Purnell

Categories
Misc.

Notes from Tonight’s Presidential Economic Advisers Forum

Here are my Tweets, in reverse chronological order, from the Presidential Economic Advisers Forum 2012, which took place at Columbia University here in New York tonight.

On hand were Mitt Romney’s Senior Economic Adviser, R. Glenn Hubbard, and Jeffrey Liebman, who holds that position under President Obama.

Columbia president Lee Bollinger made some introductory remarks. Reuters’s Chrystia Freeland moderated, and the panelists included Joseph Stiglitz, Sharyn O’Halloran, and Michael Woodford.

My overall impression: Both advisers were, naturally, measured in their remarks. Those familiar with the business and economics arguments involved in the presidential race probably won’t find much surprising here. But it may be interesting to see how the campaigns continue to frame the issues.

Categories
Misc.

The U.S. Economy and the Presidential Election

Update 2: I’ve replaced the final chart with one that shows long-term real GDP growth per capita.

Update 1: I’ve corrected the debate kickoff time, below.

The U.S. economy is, of course, at the center of this year’s presidential race.

As the first 2012 presidential debate approaches tonight (it begins at 8 p.m. 9 p.m. eastern), pundits and voters — not to mention, ahem, business journalism students — have been examining U.S. economic issues and the positions taken by President Obama and Mitt Romney.

To sum up: Romney and his team say that Obama’s economic policies have failed to adequately lift the U.S. economy out of the 2000-2009 recession.

Among other data, they point to the ongoing high unemployment rate, which is currently at 8.1 percent:

Obama’s critics also note the U.S.’s slow economic recovery in terms of real GDP.

The American economy expanded by just 1.3 percent during the second quarter this year:

2012 10 02 us gdp

In the debate tonight, Romney will also likely focus on the U.S. deficit. He says Obama would need to employ tax increases to pay down the debt in the years to come.

Obama and his supporters, meanwhile, have been pointing out just how severe the “Great Recession” was. They say the recovery is happening (albeit slowly).

The recession was, indeed, the worst downturn since the Great Depression in terms of unemployment and GDP.

Here’s the GDP data for the last few years a look at long-term per capita real GDP growth from the 19th century through 2009. Check out the dip after the Great Depression and the downturn after 2008:

2012 10 03RealGDPperCapita

(Graph via the excellent VisualizingEconomics.)

Team Obama notes that private sector jobs have been on the rise for 30 straight months.

The president will likely point out this evening that the auto bailout saved more than one million jobs.

As it happens, in my business seminar class, we recently discussed notions of the economic consensus. While many economists have many different opinions, there’s actually a lot that most agree on.

Here’s an interesting 2009 blog post from Harvard economist Greg Mankiw called “News Flash: Economists Agree.”

A few points from his post:

Fiscal policy (e.g., tax cut and/or government expenditure increase) has a significant stimulative impact on a less than fully employed economy. (90%)

Obama will say taxes need to be raised on the very wealthy; as part of the supply side argument, Romney will argue that tax cuts for most voters are the way to go.

How about this one? I doubt Obama will mention this as he criticizes Romney for outsourcing jobs:

The United States should not restrict employers from outsourcing work to foreign countries. (90%)

And here’s one for Romney:

A large federal budget deficit has an adverse effect on the economy. (83%)

That’s it for now. More on some of these topics in future posts, I’m sure.

Categories
Thailand

Thai Navy, ‘Gangnam Style’

Embedded above and on YouTube here: the Thai Navy’s version of PSY’s “Gangnam Style.”

I miss Thailand.

(Via @Journotopia.)

UPDATE: Phuket Gazette has the backstory.

Categories
Thai politics Thailand

Red Shirts and Yellow Shirts Scuffle in Bangkok

Events in Bangkok yesterday provided a reminder of ongoing political tensions in Thailand, with rival red shirt and yellow shirt supporters involved in street clashes.

The Bangkok Post reports:

Confrontations between the red- and yellow-shirt groups are likely to intensify after yesterday’s clash outside the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) left scores of people from both sides injured.

The clash erupted around noon during a stand-off between red shirts and yellow shirts who had gathered outside the CSD.

Tensions escalated about 11am when a group of yellow shirts smashed the windshield of a truck belonging to red-shirt radio station FM90.25.

An ensuing scuffle left red-shirt member Visorndaeng Traisuwaan, 35, with a head injury.

A yellow-shirt member, Chatchai Sutheesopon, 48, who was accused of carrying a hand gun by the red shirts, also suffered a head injury after he was hit in the back of the head during the scuffle. Police who searched him later found no weapons on him.

The Post says the unrest began when yellow shirts gathered to support an ex-teacher who had accused a prominent red shirt, Darunee Kritbunyalai, of lèse-majesté. The red shirts, meanwhile, had assembled to support Darunee.

The story continues:

The ugly confrontation carried on for about two hours before supporters of Ms Manasnant began to retreat to nearby department stores, seeing they were outnumbered by red shirts whose numbers grew with new arrivals.

The stand-off ended about 3pm after the area around the CSD compound along with most of Bangkok was hit by heavy downpours.

You can see some photos and a video of the clashes in a Thai Rath video, which is embedded above and on YouTube here. Things heat up a couple of minute in. Thai Rath also has a story (in Thai) here.

A brief ABC Australia report puts the numbers of protesters at 200 per camp.

Elsewhere, a Bangkok Post editorial headlined “Minor clash, strong message” says:

The confrontation, which culminated in a clash, appeared to be intentional. Both sides used their social media to advise their members for days about a scheduled meeting between a lawyer of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and Crime Suppression Division (CSD) officers on a defamation case.

And:

“The situation was contained, but what will happen if the situation goes out of control next time,” said Thawee Surarittikul, a political analyst at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University.

“Both sides are waiting for an issue which could be a trigger point leading to a bigger protest,” he said.

The clashes seem notable to me in part because they involve red shirts and yellow shirts in direct confrontation. We often see these factions rallying separately, without engaging one another.

(Thai Rath links via BP.)

Categories
Thai politics Thailand

Thaksin Talks to Bloomberg about Yingluck, the Amnesty Bill, and Lèse-Majesté

Bloomberg interviewed Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and has run two stories that are worth a look.

The pieces are here:

Former Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawatra said his sister’s government will avoid conflicts like those that led to his ouster in a 2006 coup, even as it presses ahead with efforts to curb the power of the courts.

…and here:

Any changes to a Thai law that protects Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej and other royal family members from insults should come from his advisers, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said.

Categories
Thailand

Will Bangkok Flood Again This Year?

It’s possible, says one expert in Thailand.

But a look at water levels in Thailand’s dams reveals that they seem to have plenty of capacity at this point.

A story in today’s Bangkok Post says:

Bangkok is at risk of flooding from heavy downpours caused by an unusually lengthy monsoon trough period and an imminent storm early next month, an expert has warned.

Run-off from the North, which last year left parts of the capital submerged, will only worsen the flooding because the real threat this year is rain that may overwhelm the current inadequate drainage system in the capital, said Thanawat Charupongsakul, a disaster and geographic expert at Geology Department of Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, yesterday.

The city has so far not released enough water from canals to the extent done back in 2006 when canals were left with plenty of capacity to hold floodwater, he said.

“To make things worse, City Hall has still not stopped quarrelling with the government over flood management,” he said.

(Indeed, during my reporting on last year’s inundation, some experts told me that a major problem was a lack of coordination between government agencies.)

And:

Mr Thanawat is most worried about October because that is when run-off from the North and high tides increase the water level in the Chao Phraya River.

The city’s river embankment is about 2.5m above mean sea level, but provinces upstream, especially those with industrial estates, have built and increased the heights of their levees and flood walls, so the run-off will be blocked and eventually move toward Bangkok

I understand that substantial work has, in fact, been done to fortify flood defenses around some industrial estates. So it makes sense that areas farther downstream could be at risk as water is displaced.

Meanwhile, Bangkok Pundit has an extensive post today on water levels in Thailand’s various dams.

(Some say a problem in 2011 was that not enough water had been discharged from such dams earlier in the year, meaning they were largely full when the heavy rains started and could not be used to retain excess water.)

The conclusion:

Simply put, while we still need to keep an eye on heavy rainfall which can cause flash floods, we don’t have the level of water entering the river system from the North and the Central regions that we did last year. Until this happens (which BP thinks is still very unlikely for this year), the risk of severe flooding is very low.

Ultimately, water management is a complex issue. But Bangkok drainage mechanisms, coordination among agencies, and water levels in dams seem to be key components.

(Bangkok Post link via @kmorit.)

Categories
Misc.

A Few Notes After My First Week of Classes

20120909-221229.jpg

An update from NYC:

Classes have started and I now officially find myself in the somewhat surreal and thrilling position of being, once again, a full time student. (See photo above.)

My first week of school has been stimulating. I’ve enjoyed meeting my fellow MA program classmates — about half of whom are international — and the J-School professors and staff are, of course, top notch.

I may provide more details on my courses later, but for now let me simply share a sampling of some of the wide ranging classroom materials I’ve encountered over the last seven days.

I have read (or re-read, as I tackled it during my undergraduate years) Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” I have delved into Francis Bacon’s “New Organon.”

I have contemplated journalism in the context of social psychology. And in studying the history of journalism, it was intriguing to read a passage by Joseph Addison in The Spectator, his early 18th century UK newspaper.

On the business side of things, I have also (seriously!) found my financial accounting class compelling. But check with me in a few months, as it will only become increasingly challenging.

It’s also been illuminating to read an academic paper on the relationship between economists and journalists. And I wrote a news story for my business seminar about Friday’s employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There are many more things I want to share about my first few weeks here in this great city after spending six years in Bangkok, from thoughts on urban planning to the NYC subway to the availability of high quality beer here.

I also still plan to share some long-overdue insight on blogging, Mac and iPhone apps, and more. But for now I’ll leave it at this.

Due to my current time constraints, please be sure to look for me on Twitter, as I suspect I’ll continue to be more active there than here, at least over the coming weeks.

Categories
Thailand

Self-Promotion: A Chat about All Things Vintage Thailand

Remember my Wall Street Journal story about all things vintage Thailand?

If you’re interested in hearing more on the topic, you can listen to me being interviewed by Terry Travis, host of the Azumano Travel Show (AM 860 KPAM, Portland, Oregon). We chatted not long ago for a segment that ran last weekend.

Click through to listen. The interview lasts just under eight minutes.