[Thu, the 8th] CES 2015. EAST Hall
1. Navigation + big data: layering estimated-execution status onto 3D civil-service guidance with colors for related info.
+ image -> Unity 3D (even if not the web, DID)
+ internal
—> can use birthrate, crime rate, etc.
2. Double-sided kiosks + AR — Volkswagen
3. Survey of space and per-head cost
4. Multi-vision possibilities — shape and DP change with outputs
[Fri, the 9th] CES 2015. WEST Hall
1. How growing companies (like startups) expand their business: pivot, Belkin, Ring, etc.
2. Body-fat check, not wearables — Welchy (you can't tell without an InBody; provides reference values per age group, etc.)
3. 760-degree panorama in real time
4. Devices for children's safety
[Sat, the 10th] Insights
* Bellagio — image-based wayfinding broken
A hotel that just introduced kiosks (DID), but the function isn't great.
Still, the approach of the vendor that first installed them, their sales style, ads.
—> Prepare a standardized content spec first, then a detailed content plan.
: rolling time, ad cost, etc.?
—> A good setup, good structures, and then just Guess ads... (even though they made decent content inside)
: maybe the Guess CEO has a stake.
* Instead of providing only the ordered videos,
a method for automatically slipping subconscious photo images mid-way.
* —> When installing a DID we've made, we provide a solution that is not just 1) the device and 2) the admin system,
but also 3) behavioral-psychology techniques built in by default.
* Bellagio — expert evaluation VS the general public's evaluation.
[Mon, the 12th] Insights
Wynn Hotel — Le Rêve (Cirque du Soleil).
: water-based effects — façade.
Making people envious,
something to love, something that breaks the ceiling of feeling —
-> each hotel brings out its own character (construction methods like Luxor (the pyramid)..)
VS Excalibur — the shape is there, but the inside is limited.
VS settling on one's own color..
-> not just the building-design techniques, but design that accounts for content planning and expansion within the building.
Las Vegas
: American style -> envying European style.
: mythology, Greek, and so on.
Las Vegas looks glamorous, but in scale it's only about a quarter of Macao.
Of course there's the global economic crash to blame, but compared to Macao it isn't something that can be brushed off.
But even though they fall behind Macao in the numbers (by period, visitors/betting/revenue),
their content, customer service, and content level are evolving on an incomparable scale.
The view you have now isn't everything,
hotel to hotel.
How to propose a new attempt?
Rehearsal of Las Vegas billboards, shows, pitches?
[the 10th] What I felt in Las Vegas
1. I got to feel directly what I had only known indirectly. Preconceptions really are a scary thing.
I knew it as a casino hub, but there, culture and content were fighting fierce survival battles.
2. The difference between individualism and egoism. People usually say foreigners are individualistic. But actually being among them, what I felt was that they might in fact be closer to the "land of Eastern courtesy." We keep minding those around us and end up making both ourselves and others feel awkward. They act freely, but without causing harm or discomfort to others. Maybe the things we unconsciously do aren't "consideration" at all, but more selfish behavior aimed at managing our own reputation with others in mind.
3. Whatever you feel, the feeling you have right now is what matters. Even if you forget it within one or two hours of returning, or the moment you board the bus, if the experience of this place lets us recognize the difference between them and us — about things we did as a matter of course or unconsciously — that itself can have meaning.
Of course, that thought needs to be followed up with a plan, and you might carry it out back home, or you might end up overwhelmed by the limits of Korean conditions and the culture around you and let it slide.
4. Aren't we already giving up on many things under the assumption it can't be done? Not because they actually can't be done, but because we think that way and act that way,
we may be running into that very wall. Worth revisiting.
[the 12th] What I felt in Las Vegas
Zappos -> Zappos street (container boxes) -> dinner buffet, meeting.
Seoul vs downtown — "if you go to Seoul, they'll snatch your nose while your eyes are open."
A paradise for local residents and their kids.
Revitalization of local commerce.
An incubator for indie creators.
Considering advance training and OJT.
Provide the info the person in charge needs through a guide.
Assemble external partners in other regions (coordinate between region-focused firms and general firms).
Status-driven issue: decisions driven by rank.
Balance the rank of the people participating in communication channels and negotiation.
Not just responding to contract requests or building services by winning RFPs — building services that support the target company's service AND (Geonet's) own revenue model.
Building related services on our own, without formal contracts.
Setting a project window and scope in six-month units, then building.
Managing the organization while accounting for the risk of consecutive failures.
[the 13th] On the way to the Grand Canyon
LA and China are the main customer bases.
Japan quietly, under the radar.
Compared to LA, Las Vegas is a small town.
Lower crime rate; you can't just drive around.
San Francisco — nice to live in, but expensive and lots of gay communities.
No drainage — hardly ever rains, so each rainstorm becomes a flood.
[the 14th] What I felt in Las Vegas
Getting off the plane and taking the airport tram,
I thought — ah, I'm back in Korea.
Came home and ate pork belly, soju, and kimchi.
The crisp freshness of the kimchi,
the long trip — which they say leaves only an impression — was over.
I slept deeply on the 12+ hour flight, yet on the bus coming home,
even after reaching home, the long sleep wouldn't stop.
It felt truly like a dream inside a very long sleep.
# KOTRA. Interview with the overseas-expansion officer
"SMBA: incubator (intense competition — max 3 years) — San Francisco (half price)
"KOTRA — branch office: LA (My Office — slots available),
- Business selection and visa issuance.
- For $100, DB tailored to the industry (professional marketing, first-response work, translation, etc.)
# KOTRA : LA (My Office)
1. Private office support (half of local market rate 750~900)
2. On-site tenants: more manufacturing or product-production companies than web or multimedia firms.
3. Tenancy: first-come-first-served based on vacancy.
4. Support
- Help with visa applications for dispatched staff.
- Local lawyer referrals: operating form, banking, tax handling, etc.
- Translation of contracts and other docs; simultaneous interpretation at meetings, etc.
- If specialized knowledge is needed, referrals to relevant experts.
5. Reference
- E visa application
- About $3,000 per person
- Minimum two-person APT $2,000
- Average wait 6 months – 1 year
# KOTRA : KOTRA Overseas IT Support Center http://goo.gl/bjww6
# SMBA: San Francisco (business incubator — BI)
1. Office tenancy support
2. On-site tenants: more manufacturing / production-related companies than web or multimedia firms.
3. Tenancy: SMBA review.
- Preference for firms with an export track record from Korea.
- Preference for firms operating with local-corporatization-style partnerships.
4. Cost
- Deposit: 5,000,000 KRW
- Monthly rent: 150,000 KRW
- Incidentals: electricity, internet, phone, fax, heating/cooling.
5. Apply online at www.sbc-kbdc.com
# Build our own service
1. Main items
1) CMS — smart editor
2) workflow program
3) kiosk
2. Secure sales channels and visibility through local partnerships.
[the 15th] After coming back
CES is not a place that exhibits unreleased new products.
What's on display is already accessible through the media.
The meaning of a world consumer-electronics show like CES is that product-development leads from all over the world
can build networks offline, simultaneously, in one place.
To interpret it merely as hands-on-try or "oh — there's a product like this too" research
is hard to justify given the hefty cost of flying in from abroad.
Even so, most recent posts I see focus on comparisons and viability evaluations of domestic vs overseas manufacturers.
It would've been better if the focus were on shifts in each company's interests, or analyses of products and technologies applicable to one's own company.
A small regret.
[the 9th] Internal meeting
Ways to improve internal operations.
Branding plans.
When dealing with public institutions, sometimes,
even with items already agreed at the working level,
the final decision-makers make unreasonable decisions based on the vendor's or presenter's references — how to fix that.
The importance of standardizing forms and processes, felt while on the outside (business trip and dispatch).
