Bitcoin, Bolivia, and Barbeque

Bitcoin, Bolivia, and Barbecue

Bye, bye Bitcoin?

So, China and Jamie Dimon say no to Bitcoin while Argentina is adding 200 Bitcoin ATMs:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/argentina-jumps-on-bitcoin-atm-bandwagon-with-200-expected-in-october

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/22/bitcoin-jpmorgans-jamie-dimon-lays-into-bitcoin-again.html

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/chinese-bitcoin-exchange-btcchina-stops-accepting-deposits/articleshow/60853179.cms

As I write this, and after a 20% dip, the electronic currency is rebounding nicely over the key $4000 (USD) level seen as crucial. Now South Korea and Japan are giving the cryptocurrency a thumbs down as well. In Asia, many seem to be scared of scams or things run amok. It will be interesting to see what Vietnam has planned in a couple months. In other places such as Argentina where cattle are still trusted more than banks as a long term savings mechanism, a new digital currency may seem safer. Some are even saying that it could prove to be White Knightish* for the almost failed state of Venezuela where I worked for a year in the 90’s when most parts were safe. Good luck finding one now in Caracas, or for that matter, milk. They deserve so much better.

I have no claims to cryptocurrency mastery (nor to quantum computing, and fear those who claim expertise!) and subconsciously am still partial to the gold standard. But who do you trust? We are all still scarred from the last financial crisis. Maybe a little digital competition could be a  good thing for the financial houses who brought down all of ours? Or maybe Bitcoin is just another tulip. For now, new Bitcoin ATMs are planned in Argentina. Planned.

Bolivia. Where have you been all my life?

Apologies to Bolivia for not visiting sooner and for being manipulated by the western press. Over a decade of growth, many say due to the natural gas, and mineral reserves, has led to some great new infrastructure. Imagine a highway you would expect in Stuttgart, but through the Andes. A socialist president who mostly nationalized the natural gas reserves, noticeably plowed a pile of money into infrastructure. Couple this with small business entrepreneurialism throughout the country and you have year after year of growth. Fossil fuel smugglers to Argentina have been thwarted (others thrive however) due to the fact that foreigners pay a higher international fuel price to even fill up their cars. Huh? Why hasn’t Venezuela thought of this? Oh yeah, the government are the smugglers, and the drug dealers, and the (insert pejorative here).  The mix of socialism and capitalism was fascinating to see as a strategy, conscious or not. Hats off to you Bolivia.

Barbeque.

The famous Argentine beef has slipped a notch. Not to worry, it is still good. Rumor has it that the best meat is exported. Remember the no competition thing? The beef industry is sitting pretty to the disadvantage of many an asado (bbq). So now you are forced to buy what is offered domestically. Slowly it seems more competition is coming. Like the rest it will take time. Congressional elections are coming in a couple weeks. If the president’s party does well enough, international investors will feel more at ease. Stay tuned.

*It can maybe help a little, but that is one big hole of a mess

BizEnglish
Peter Nyheim, Ph.D.

Project fi in tourism technology

Project fi in tourism technology

Wherever I go, people always ask me about my phone, or rather my plan. I have been using Project fi from Google for about six months and it has been generally good.

How it works
Google did a deal mostly with Sprint and T-Mobile and many international carriers in 2015. It tries wifi first and then switches to a carrier if the signal strength is not strong enough. At last count, it was available in 135 countries for about $20 dollars a month plus $10 a gig for data with unused data carried over to the next month. Scared Verizon?

Porting my number from Verizon took a day or two and the Project fi website was user friendly. I ordered the Nexus 5x through Project fi. One of the major criticisms of Project fi deals with the limited phone options. Currently only Pixel and Nexus phones can use it. To their credit, they have announced that a deal is in the works for more options later this year. My phone came a couple days later with the Project fi SIMM card. Later, I bought a backup phone with another SIMM, just in case.

I was up and running pretty quickly and after about two weeks, my withdrawal symptoms from iOS started to subside. I still have a tablet and MacBook Air. What I missed most were Apple notes for quick thoughts shared across all devices. Now it is a Google doc.

Wifi please!
So fi is available just about everywhere. Well, not in Vietnam. Wifi only here. Turns out the country right now is one of the few where fi is not available using a carrier. There is still a 15 minute delay in television signals, imposed by the government for censorship purposes, so it is not too surprising. Wifi is readily available, but I do remember trying to tell a cab to wait while I went back into a restaurant to get a signal to show him an address. He left due to my offline nonexistent Vietnamese language capabilities. Translate is not the best either. I got another cab, but still.

Pick up, pick up, pick up...
I may have a cheap plan, but that doesn’t mean others do. I tried to call a dry cleaners in Vietnam and they did not pick up since there would be a charge for accepting an international call. I friended them on Facebook and used Messenger. All went well.

Welcome to…
is always a nice greeting. When I landed in Seoul for example, and turned on my phone, Project fi greeted me with “Welcome to Korea,” Project fi has coverage here… with all the applicable rates. I also remember flying over countries and my phone lighting up, “Welcome to Brazil” (never been, yet) on my way to the Southern Cone. With that in mind, don’t forget to update your contacts with the country codes.

Anytime now fi…
In Argentina, fi originally thought I was in Uruguay and not Buenos Aires. It took a day and some empanadas later before they caught on and I could get a signal “outside.”

Battery life, ugh...
By far the weakest link is the battery. The new Oreo operating system, (which to me, sounds like a pejorative) is said to help. It is available in beta, but I’ll wait for Google to push it to my phone when they are ready. In the meantime, a charge for 30 minutes during the day typically gets me through.

Google has a whole host of technology strategies. Remember Google Fiber? It looks like they got burned there which could explain the lack of push behind Project fi. Can a primarily software dedicated company succeed and scale in the customer service centric phone business? They seem to be moving very slowly.

So...
For now, I use the phone to call at (20 cents a minute) and text back to the states and Messenger (Vietnam) and WhatsApp (Argentina) internationally. It is nice having a signal in the streets for quick things though. Go figure, my two communication worlds are Google and Facebook. Future utilities?

Digital trends does a good job breaking it down. The pricing strategy must scare the incumbent carriers.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/google-project-fi-plans-pricing-explained/

BizEnglish
Peter Nyheim, Ph.D.

Danang, Boom to be Trumped?

Danang: There is a Boom going on here… But will it be Trumped?

Work brings me to Vietnam twice a year. It takes a bunch of planes to reach the city, but the trip is worth it. If spicy seafood and the beach are to your liking, Danang has it. There are also the mountains, the river, and the historic countryside. From a business standpoint, it is always surprising to see all the new construction in the city and along the beach. The city is using Singapore as a city to model, which to me means air-conditioning everywhere! Looks like down the road, we may need sweaters here. Crazy. In the five years that I have been working here, the hotel construction (and construction in general) has only sped up. I do miss some of my old little spots along the beach and river though, which are now being replaced by large chains.

While Danang is very much playing the tourism card, it will be interesting to see what happens to their manufacturing sector. Will Trump’s “America First” impact their (Danang and the country’s as a whole) textile exports to the US? Clearly they are worried.

Again, tourism in Danang is a different matter. First domestically, Danang is a beach spot for the Vietnamese. Weekend packages are big for those from Hanoi and Saigon (it’s ok you can still call it that). Second, the once numerous Chinese tourists have been Trumped, sorry, replaced by the South Koreans. Some Naval engagements in the East Sea (don’t call it The South China Sea!) between Vietnam and China a few years back cooled relations and led to new marketing efforts in Seoul. With sprinkles of Australian, Russian (still their main military connection) and European guests, the tourism industry has a well diversified portfolio. Americans do go there (and English is the default language for all foreign guests at the upscale hotels), but fewer compared to the rest. Must be the plane ride.

I would love to make this a food blog. Allow me one quick one: Spring Rolls! Thank you.

Now onto the Technology. While WhatsApp (pronounced WhatsUp) in many parts of Latin America is the communication app of choice, Danang is all about facebook messenger. And yes you are right, facebook bought WhatsApp. So their technology strategy wins. But if you are communicating locally, its messenger. Unlike other places I have traveled, I never thought my phone was going to get stolen here since everyone had a better phone than me. I am rocking the Nexus 5 with Google fi as my international phone. I bought two and got another SIM from google, just in case...But not here; this could be the safest tourist spot I have ever been. Although Vietnam is one of the few countries where project fi is not available on the cell network, there is a city wifi, and fi defaults to wifi if available. Again, this country is all about facebook which is free compared to accepting a call from my international number which costs them. Finally Google translate is improving, so they could play a bigger role aside from search and digital marketing. I imagine their AI will change things on the language front in the not too distant future.

Singapore also shows its influence in Grab, their Uber. I used it a couple times. You can get a cab or car and maybe even get a text from your driver.

Finally hearts and minds and soft power. The US Navy’s 7th Fleet continues to win over the affections of the country. They build schools, give free surgeries, and have a killer band which gives free concerts. They are LOVED here and seem to provide some counterbalance to the surreal old US Marine locations from the war. Check them out, on facebook of course:

https://www.facebook.com/7thFleetBand/

BizEnglish
Peter Nyheim, Ph.D.