Bamboo Innovator Daily Insight: 21 Mar (Sat) – Dear Teacher, A Video Game Developer Is A Real Job And Should Be Celebrated; Simply knowing that there is a framework of code behind Minecraft or Crossy Road is nearly as important as knowing how to code it. This knowledge removes the mysticism of computers

Notice: The website AsianExtractor: Unearthing Accounting Fraud in Asia (www.AsianExtractor.com) is down on technical issues and we are trying to resolve the problem asap.

Life

• Dear Teacher, A Video Game Developer Is A Real Job And Should Be Celebrated; Simply knowing that there is a framework of code behind Minecraft or Crossy Road is nearly as important as knowing how to code it. This knowledge removes the mysticism of computers: Techcrunch
• Why engineers loved working for Steve Jobs; Steve challenged them in ways they had never imagined. No one else in the computer business had such radical goals and expectations; no one else seemed to care so much about their work. BI
• Jony Ive describes the moment he stopped fearing Steve Jobs; “But to hear his introduction of me to the whole of Pixar, I realized that he really understood what I was try to achieve at an emotional level. At some level, he know what I was trying to articulate”: BI
• Students learn on own initiatives: KT
• Finding Success, Well Past the Age of Wunderkind; Through the arts, education and other pursuits, more people are experiencing late-life rebirths that are rewarding creatively, emotionally and spiritually. NYT
• Jokowi Jets to Yogya to Reflect on Meaning of Life: JG
• 10 Steps to Access Your Goodness and Change Your Life: TinyBuddha
• Why You Shouldn’t Wait For Others to Validate Your Decisions; “Do not let another day go by where your dedication to other people’s opinions is greater than your dedication to your own emotions!”: TinyBuddha
• Why We Get Attached to Our Struggles and Who We Could Be Without Them: TinyBuddha
• Freeing Yourself from Fear: 4 Lessons from Anxiety;  “The only journey is the one within.” ~Rainer Maria Rilke: TinyBuddha
• Gilding the Sheepskin: It is possible to have a good life-even a great one-without attending the college of your choice. Who knew?: WSJ
• Music Education Needs to Be a Click Away: WSJ
• Cannibalisation the only way to beat cheaper competitors, says professor: SCMP
• Why Islam Needs a Reformation: To defeat the extremists for good, Muslims must reject those aspects of their tradition that prompt some believers to resort to oppression and holy war: WSJ
• How We Learn to Be Afraid of the Right Things: Alison Gopnik on research that shows how humans (and rats) set up protected spaces for children to deal with the dangerous adult world: WSJ
• The Slippery Slope to Extinction: Neanderthals had bigger brains, sharper vision and were better adapted to the environment than homo sapiens. How did we replace them as Eurasia’s apex predator? WSJ
• Young Financier’s Insurance Empire Collapses: Investments of insurance companies owned by Southport Lane Management were swapped for unusual and sometimes worthless assets: WSJ
• Rise of the machines: is there anything to fear? What happens when ultra-intelligent computers begin to improve themselves? We should not assume they’ll have our best interests at heart: FT
• Rifat’s prison sentence indicates front running’s time is up: FT
• A degree of creativity; ‘Vocational degrees provide skills that can become outdated or be replaced by robots”: FT
• The 3 most important things to know if you’re managing half a million employees: BI
• How one man went from collecting unemployment to owning a burger chain with hundreds of locations: BI
• What’s Wrong with Finance: MH
• Overnight viral sensations: good lessons and great opportunities for marketers: NM

Investing Process

• Open Letter to SGX/MAS: Reply to CFO of SGX-Listed China Environment (CENV SP) on report “Potential Accounting Tunneling Fraud at China Environment?” – Address the accounting and governance concerns in an SGX/MAS announcement: AsianExtractor
• Audits alone can’t solve all: TheStar
• Cash flow, and not cash, is king; 1MDB has cash and bank balances of RM3.85bil and another RM12.89bil of investments that are deemed as “available-for-sale” but had to rely on a RM950mil standby credit facility from the Government: TheStar

Greater China

• Open Letter to SGX/MAS: Reply to CFO of SGX-Listed China Environment (CENV SP) on report “Potential Accounting Tunneling Fraud at China Environment?” – Address the accounting and governance concerns in an SGX/MAS announcement: AsianExtractor
• Goldin Financial’s meteoric gains raise questions over what is fueling the rally: WSJ
• China Regulator Urges Caution as Stocks Jump to Seven-Year Highs: Bloomberg
• China’s Trial-and-Error Economy: PS

Japan & Korea

• Inside Korea’s DIY home decor craze; “Shoppers these days are disappointed when I only show them classic designs that they can find elsewhere. They’re all looking for something that’s one-of-a-kind.” : KH
• Home furnishing market flourishes: Challenged by Ikea, Korean furniture makers transform into ‘lifestyle brands’: KH
• Prosecution to seek warrant for POSCO E&C’s ex-Vietnam head: KH
• Hyundai marks anniversary of founders’ death: JA

ASEAN

• Open Letter to SGX/MAS: Reply to CFO of SGX-Listed China Environment (CENV SP) on report “Potential Accounting Tunneling Fraud at China Environment?” – Address the accounting and governance concerns in an SGX/MAS announcement: AsianExtractor
• Malaysia has seen only small-scale forensic accounting cases, mostly in the form of investigation audits done on Practice Note 17 companies, which has surged since 2000. TheStar
• Auditing the Auditor-General: Is the Public Accounts Committee equipped to assess the work of Ambrin who has been tasked with verifying the books of 1MDB from 2009?: TheStar
• More moves to curb housing loans seen in Malaysia: TheStar
• AEC effects unlikely to be seen for years, meet told: NM

Macro

• Investors Embrace ETFs That Hedge Against a Strong Dollar; As the dollar has risen, investors have pumped billions into foreign-stock funds that shelter their returns from currency swings: WSJ
• The Global VAT Craze: A new study shows how the value-added tax is rising world-wide. WSJ
• While Regulators Fiddle, Avoid Getting Burned: WSJ
• How to Pick a Stock Picker: It’s tough to predict which active manager will beat the market. Here’s one way to improve the odds: Look for low fees. WSJ
• Newcomers jump into activist investing, eying returns and capital: Reuters
• Why Washington drives innovators and entrepreneurs nuts: WaPo
• How Scary Is the Bond Market?: PS
• We’re Frighteningly in the Dark About Student Debt: NYT

TMT

• Technical Hurdles Delay Drone Deliveries; Battery life and weather at least as daunting as pending regulation, say developers: WSJ
• YouTube Wasn’t Created As A Music Service, We Turned It Into One: Forbes
• Meet the man whose utopian vision for the Internet conquered, and then warped, Silicon Valley: WaPo
• Here’s some interesting gossip about how Microsoft could make more money from Windows: BI
• The tech formula: Nasdaq = small caps + Apple: FT

Healthcare

• Japan’s outsized demand for fertility treatment helps explain why shares of OvaScience, a fertility company based near Harvard University in the U.S., have more than tripled this year : Barron’s1, 2

Consumer & Others

• From Warren Buffett to Bill Gates: How auto dealerships are attracting a whole new class of investor: FP
• Starbucks aims to brew the right thing; A model for those seeking to create brand ‘narrative’ in this brave new media world: FT
• The fairytale success of Swarovski; The brand’s association with films and fashion has put sparkle into sales: FT