Monday, October 21, 2013

Website Failures - Diagnosis of Obamacare & Common App

(10/21/2013) Obamacare website (HealthCare.gov) has been full of glitches since Day 1 of its launch. The Republican party was so busy wrestling on government shutdown and totally ignore a great opportunity to nail Obama government. Now the shutdown is over, media and Obama critics start paying attention about how wrong HealthCare.gov is. There is a good analysis on NBCNews today.

I like this comment: “Buying a health plan is a lot more complicated than buying a flight," says Brandon Cruz, president of GoHealth, a private health insurance marketplace. “When you’re buying a health plan, you need to know all the doctors in the network, what you deductible will be, what your co-insurance will be. And the terminology is so foreign.”

What is Obama's temporary solution to this failure? "“So you'll find information about how to talk to a specialist who can help you apply over the phone or to receive a downloadable application you can fill out yourself and mail in,” Obama said."

This is a good lesson for complex website launch.

(10/31/2013) Are Obamacare website's glitches contagious? The "Common App" (a platform that allows high school students to send out their applications to multiple schools at one time) just had a huge problem for their users and high school students cannot submit their applications successfully. Common App is not as new as Obamacare registration website. From the reply of the company's executive, it is "technological glitches from some new technology updates" on their platforms. Many universities are forced to extend their application since there are as many as 800,000 applicants impacted. It is not promising that this problem can be solved before the peak time of application. I bet the enrollment offices in many colleges won't be happy this year because their admission process is forced to be delayed.

Friday, October 18, 2013

Most Advanced Data Storage, Processing and Accessing in the World

(10/18/2013) Do you know which field has the most advanced data storage, processing and accessing technology in the world? It is in the scientific research of the Universe. Each day, there are "700 terabytes of data are expected to rush in" and collected. Definitely, we are in a 'world' with significant details that have more than we can conceptualize and understand. Can we really comprehend the whole universe with so much data to process? How much more details we need to know the Universe? I wonder what the most 'efficient' way to probe the Universe is.

Will Briggo Coffee Kiosks Replace Starbucks Shops?

(10/18/2013) Can robot coffee machine make better coffee than Starbucks baristas? One company, Briggo, is ambitiously aiming to switch our taste for good coffee with their sophisticated coffee machine. "It needs just 50 square feet (4.6 sq m) of floor space, and it can be dropped anywhere—an airport, a hospital, a company campus, a cafe with tables and chairs and WiFi just like Starbucks. It’s manufactured in Austin."

One suggestion? Have multiple order and pickup station, which can also take orders from the mobile devices. I am not waiting for some indecisive customers occupying the machine in front of me.

A 50 sqft. of coffee kiosk to serve whatever taste of coffee you want

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Yahoo Mail Redesign

(10/16/2013) If you are a yahoo mail user, you are probably very 'surprised' by their new mail page redesign. It was not the best mailbox, but the redesign is getting even worse. It's tab function in mail is gone and there is no way to get it back now (unless yahoo engineers are listening to customer's complaints). From all services that yahoo provides now, mail is still a traffic magnet for yahoo. The previous Flickr redesign was unpopular already. Will Marissa Mayer (Yahoo's current CEO) lose her job soon? I think she does not have much time left as the most recent's financial report shows Yahoo's earning is waning.




Friday, October 11, 2013

Budget Airlines and Pickpocketing Gangs

(10/11/2013) We know budget airlines are very popular in Europe. You can fly between German and England with 10 euros. The tickets are so cheap, the members of pickpocketing gangs just fly out of Romania, do their works, then fly home with their loots. They don't stay in one city and they can do a lot of sight seeing and traveling. What a great life, right?
I think these thieves probably have cumulated quite a lot of mileages on the budget airlines. Do they redeem their mileages?


Thursday, October 10, 2013

Obamacare Website Exposed US Gov's Information System's Weakness

(10/10/2013) This is a very scaring news: Obamacare registration website is not working. If it is not because GOP's shutting down the federal government, this news will be the biggest headache for Obama. Thanks to GOP's uncalculated shutdown plan which saves Obama. One thing that should really worry us is: can we trust such kind of government who's IT infrastructure is often not the most advanced and secured system? A hacking or data leaking will put this issue in the spotlight. But so far? Wish us good luck and stay in ignorance, I hope nothing really bad like IS security breach will happen.

10 days after the first launch, Obamacare registration website still has huge problem. I totally agree with the analysis below: Shutdown that website, Fix it, then reopen it. It is a shame. No real business website will allow a glitch like this alive for so long.


Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

How Jeff Bezos Built Amazon.com

(10/10/2013) There is a very complete story about how Jeff Bezos built Amazon in BusinessWeek.com. Truthful? I don't know. But it definitely opens your eyes and makes you wonder. If Jeff Bezos does not have the personality described in this report, will Amazon still be so successful and let us realize that an online bookstore can become such a 'serve all you need' company?