Yours, Verily

Alphabet's Life Science division debuts a new name

By

Tzen Szen

on December 18, 2015 1.10pm

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Meet Verily, the latest division under Alphabet's umbrella.

The word means "truly" or "certainly". It dates back to the Middle English of the 14th century and does occasionally appear in the King James Bible. However, in terms of common use, it hasn't been used since... well, quite a long time ago.

Verily is a life sciences company that graduated from Google's moonshot factory, Google[x]. They started out as the life sciences team in Google[x], working on a smart contact lens that detects blood glucose levels in 2012, eventually spinning-off as an independant company.

Based on their new website, Verily is focused on "using technology to better understand health, as well as prevent, detect, and manage disease".

As a medical student fascinated by technology, this resonates with me, hard. It really does excite me.

Verily's mission involves moving healthcare from reactive to proactive/preventative, from generalised to personalised. They want to make health more about being continuous rather than episodic. And with a diverse, multidisciplinary team, it sure looks like they stand a good chance of doing just that.

A single discipline isn't going to cure disease

Verily is led by their CEO, Andy Conrad. Formerly the chief scientific officer of LabCorp, he is a cell biologist and has co-founded the National Genetics Institute, which developed the first cost-effective test to screen for HIV in blood supply.

His team at Verily is truly a multidisciplinary one. It comprises of engineers, doctors, scientists, and statistics gurus, with a single mission of improving healthcare. To better understand the bigger picture, they even have a philosopher on their team to figure out the "why" of what people do.

To detect disease earlier, understand it better, and intervene in the course of the disease more precisely, Verily has already started with their long journey. For example, they've started to develop a contact lens with an embedded glucose sensor to detect glucose levels in tears. The Baseline Study is currently ongoing to better recognise what a healthy person is. Recently, they've also filed a patent for a "needle-free blood draw" system.

Health isn't and shouldn't be about the yearly doctor visits. 23andMe (another company that I'm a huge admirer of) CEO, Anne Wojcicki hit the nail on the head when she said, "Health is about what you do every single day”.

We don't even know what being "healthy" means yet. We think that as long we aren't feeling ill, we are healthy. That sure isn't the case. How many times have doctors found tumours in patients when they weren't actually looking for them?

The healthcare industry hasn't fully embraced technology as an equal in solving the largest problems we are currently facing. Even if the industry does, more often than not, it takes ages for the tech to reach physicians and patients. And rightly so, for a couple of reasons.

As an industry that involves human life, the margin of error is incredibly tiny. Should the technology that we use to help patients fail, the consequences are unforgiving. Bureaucracy surrounding the industry as a whole also plays a part with limiting innovation. A lot of the time, we are focused on what we can't do instead of what we can - we find more reasons for saying "no", instead of more reasons for saying "yes".

We find more reasons for saying "no"

One fine day in the near future, I hope to look back and chuckle to myself at how we faced the problems that are plaguing healthcare. Verily represents an ideal of hope - that we can have world in which technology and life sciences are in congruence with one another to reveal new truths about health and disease.

And with a practical and real approach to scientific development, that world verily looks more like reality instead of a dream.

The State of Virtual Reality (Late 2015)

Good VR is finally here

By

Tzen Szen

on December 17, 2015 10.20am

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Back when I was a kid, virtual reality (VR) was basically fictional.

It was tacky, gimmicky even. It was something that you'd file under "nice to have".

VR came as different forms as seen in sci-fi movies like The Matrix or Tron. Not everyone had the access to games or toys like Battlezone of the View-Master. While considered primitive by today's standards, Battlezone and the old View-Master blew people away due to the immersiveness of their experiences at that time.

Good VR is here

Enter 2015, VR is back from a hiatus; from ’90s futurism to one the largest attractions in tech world. It's been about 4 years since Palmer Luckey built the prototype that would eventually become the Oculus Rift in his parents’ garage in 2011 (the coolest things always start out in a garage, don't they?). It's been three and a half years since that prototype was unveiled at E3 by John Carmack, jumpstarting everything.

VR is a platform that stimulates the senses, notably sight, touch, and hearing. Being part of a research project involving the Oculus Rift in September, I was impressed by what I experienced. The programmes that I tried out felt real. The need to reach out to touch the planets and stars that surrounded me was completely natural. Trying out a rollercoaster programme, my head swayed naturally from left to right as the rollercoaster made sharp turns and loops. The slight feeling of nausea also came with the experience.

The Google Cardboard that I tried out impressed me just as much. Essentially just a piece of cardboard with some lenses and a magnet, the experience that I got out of it was astoundingly immersive for something costing the fraction of the price of the Oculus Rift. A combination of decent haptic feedback, visuals, and audio allows Google's take on VR to punch way above its weight.

VR isn't just a gimmick anymore. It's not something that you will see and go, "That's something nice to have!". It's the real deal.

That's a reason why the largest names in tech are competing to have a say in the VR market; Facebook, Google, Samsung, Sony, and HTC are lining up to show the rest of the world what VR is capable of.

Even non-tech companies are jumping on the VR bandwagon. The NY Times have recently released a mobile app for VR, while also sending print subscribers a free Google Cardboard. Mattel, one of the largest toy companies in the world, have partnered with Google and National Geographic to release a new, VR enabled, View-Master for kids.

We are going to be spoilt for choice with the amount of VR headsets currently in market or about to enter the market in early 2016. Have a look at the graph below and you can see that they come in a variety of price points. This is based heavily on whether they are powered by a desktop or by mobile phones.

The applications of VR are virtually limitless. We've already seen it being used in training pilots and military training. But what about other industries? For example, can we improve surgical training by using a VR headset with haptic feedback? How about better visualising medical imagery using VR for diagnostics and surgical planning? Can children see other parts of the world in just their classroom without having to travel there?

VR is difficult to explain in words

It is thrilling to see where the applications of VR will take us. However, one of its largest challenges is to actually tell people how an experience with VR is like. It is notoriously difficult to express in words.

I can write a 2000 word essay about it and you won't even know what it really feels like. Until you try it out for yourself, it's all just words.

But yes, for now, good VR is finally here. A question that should be asked is whether it will be here to stay.

And my answer to that would be: I certainly hope it does.

5 Important Lessons From My First Hackathon

"Let's do this!"

By

Tzen Szen

on November 26, 2015 10.13am

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It has been just over a couple of weeks since my first hackathon that I participated in. To put simply, a hackathon is an event where people (programmers, designers, etc.) come together to turn ideas into reality.

TELHack, which took place in London from the 6th to 8th of November, is a hackathon aimed at transforming healthcare education. In case you were wondering, the "TEL" in TELHack stands for Technology Enhanced Learning.

Looking back, there was plenty to take away from the hackathon. So, here's 5 of the most important lessons I learnt from my experiences at TELHack.

1. Default to open.

The concept of default to open is woven in the DNA of hackathons. Being default to open means rather than starting from a point where you choose what to share, start from a point where you chose what not to share. Hackathons are an environment which simply thrives on collaboration and openness. Having heard of this concept is one thing, but experiencing it first-hand was entirely different and it blew me away.

Want to know if your idea would be worth working on during a 48-hour period? After sharing my idea about virtual reality (VR) to work on during the weekend, a software developer advised that it'd be wise to consider something else, mostly because there weren't many developers experienced with VR. Not sure what a business model canvas is? Ask the experts who have been involved in numerous startups or have a background in business.

Speak to the people you are surrounded by and share your opinions and problems with them! What better way to get your questions answered or your problems solved by individuals who have/had similar experiences. A hackathon is a friendly event, so meet as many people as possible, make friends, and learn.

2. Don't take your ability to learn for granted!

Speaking of learning, I didn't realise how much one could learn in just 48 hours. My experience in coding was fairly limited and even at TELHack, I didn't write much code. But I was surrounded by people who read and write code for a living. I was able to learn through seeing how they did what they did and doing a little myself. That crash course in Python during TELHack is something that will definitely come in handy.

Learning about building scalable businesses was another matter that I had to get my hands dirty in. Coming from a background in healthcare, my experience in business was fairly limited. Through support and advice from Alejandro, one of the lead organisers, we managed to get a business model going. I've never learnt so much in one night, by researching about getting the first users, scaling a business, and how to generate money.

How do companies like Google, Facebook, Uber, Airbnb, or Palantir disrupt an industry? How did they start out in the beginning before their businesses started growing? And lastly, how is our prototype more valuable from anything out there already? Those were some questions that we had to learn to ask and answer in less than 12 hours before our final pitch!

A large part of my learning came in the form of actually doing it. Most of the time, doing something for the first time will result in failure. So, the best way to learn in this instance is to fail faster and quickly learn from mistakes; adopt the "shoot, ready, aim" mantra.

3. Money is important.

The rest of my team found it uncomfortable to discuss about the business-end of things. Again, Alejandro managed to help out in this area by explaining why it's important to have a viable business model by the end of the hackathon.

Essentially, what he said was, "It's okay to not want to think about making profits. But not thinking about making any money at all is crazy! Why? Because every business, regardless of their size has to earn some money. Not profiting is fine, but you must make enough money to keep going and sustain the business."

That advice really hit me. I now understand better why money is important. Don't get me wrong, the purpose of doing anything shouldn't be based on making profits. Making profits is a result, a side-effect if you wish. However, not thinking about to sustain a business, even when just starting out, would be madness.

4. Remember to sell the why!

We had around 48 hours to come up with a working prototype by the end of TELHack. It was too easy to focus on building the prototype, in my team's case, a clinical knowledge respository. That was the "what".

Looking back, our prototype functioned well and we clearly communicated its features and how it worked. We even managed to explain how it was different compared to other products already in the market. Stumbling across Simon Sinek's TEDTalk, I finally realised what was lacking.

We didn't communicate the "why" part of our pitch well enough; it wasn't as inspiring as should be! From that TEDTalk, Mr. Sinek said "If Apple were like everyone else, a marketing message from them might sound like this: We make great computers. They're beautifully designed, simple to use, and user-friendly. Want to buy one?". That sounds incredibly "meh", doesn't it?

Our final pitch at TELHack was decent but there is always room for improvement. In the future, I'd personally would like to use a better approach and explicitly highlight why a prototype was built for in the first place.

5. Enjoy and have fun.

Sure, most of us at TELHack didn't get much sleep during the hackathon. Yes, it was also stressful and daunting to come up with a working prototype by the end of it all. But at the end of TELHack, I can tell you there wasn't a single person in the room who didn't have a huge smile on their face. From the participants to mentors and organisers, everyone enjoyed themselves and had a great time.

I took part in Python crash course and tried some yoga. I met and exchanged ideas with lots of other healthcare professionals, mentors, software developers, and designers. That was all on top of making a difference in healthcare education.

Working on cool things that matter is highly addictive. Hours and hours flew by when I was preparing a business model, writing code, and helping out my team whenever I could. Hackathons are designed to gather like-minded individuals to solve large problems. It's a little like trying to assemble the Avengers.

At the end of the day, nothing is worth doing if you aren't having fun. Also, time spent doing something you enjoy, is definitely not time wasted.

At the start of TELHack, we said "let's do this!" and at the end, we did it. From concept to prototype in 48 hours, my first hackathon was definitely one to remember!

Explained: Superman

Humanity, reflected

By

Tzen Szen

on October 30, 2015 12.10pm

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The Man of Steel, The Man of Tomorrow, The Last Son of Krypton, going by the alias of Clark Kent/Kal-El, is known to many all around the world as Superman. The superhero is a global icon and more importantly, one of the most popular fictional characters around today. Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) and has since invaded the rest of pop culture from comic books, to video games, movies, and more.

"Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive."

Most of us are familiar with his origin story where he was born on the planet Krypton as Kal-El and was sent by his parents, Jor-El and Lara, to Earth as Krypton was doomed to destruction. On Earth, he grew up in Kansas as Clark Kent after being adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent.

He was traditionally described as, "Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound... It's Superman!" which ultimately reflects his extraordinary powers. These powers range from super-strength, flight, near invulnerability to non-magical attacks, super-speed, vision powers (including x-ray, heat-emitting, telescopic, infra-red, and microscopic vision), and super-hearing. Based on the recent Man of Steel movie, these powers were a result of his cells being drunk in the radiation of our yellow Sun, strengthening his muscles, skin, and senses and also due to Earth's gravity is being weaker than Krypton's was, with our atmosphere more nourishing.

Speaking to others about Superman or even going through the comments section of YouTube videos, I find the adjectives describing him most notably include "boring" and "overpowered". While it is understandable to see where they are coming from, Superman is miles away from being a boring or overpowered character.

The reason for me stating so begins with that huge, iconic, "S" shield on his chest. It initially had only one meaning, the "S" for Superman. In recent times however, the "S" stands for the coat of arms of the House of El and more significantly, the Kryptonian symbol of hope. True enough, Superman is the ultimate embodiment of hope in the comic books.

It's easy to just paint a picture of him as a big guy, throwing massive punches around all the time. But let's not forget about the Flash, who moves faster than Superman or even Batman (who is still awesome), who goes toe to toe with other enemies usually stronger than he is and still comes on top. Despite his many powers, Superman is a totally relatable character. The themes around his story usually involve themes like isolation, loneliness, restraint, and of course, hope.

Let's break Superman's story down and put it into context. We have this superpowered alien, the last of his species, sent to a foreign planet. No one trusts his intentions; he's a potential threat to everyone, it's hard to trust him. At the pinnacle of his powers, he can literally move planets and easily bring humanity to its knees.

However, he fights for everyone because he is, in his unique way, a fictional character that represents us. Deep down, you know he is the embodiment of the good in all of us due to his strong moral code instilled in him by his adopted parents, the Kents. What does he do when he's not saving the world? He tries to live a normal life as Clark Kent by working at the Daily Planet as a journalist in the fictional city of Metropolis. He shares the development of his sense of right and wrong with the rest of us. As he grows up, Clark is faced with scenarios that allow him to examine and build his moral compass.

What does he do when he's not saving the world?

His struggles are real; how does he exert control over himself with the possession of all those amazing powers and what happens when raw emotions like sadness or anger take over? The Injustice: Gods Among Us storyline explores just that and we see Superman behaving like a god after the murder of Lois Lane and his unborn child.

In Man of Steel, we see Superman making difficult decisions. Should he save his father from a ravaging tornado and reveal himself to the world when it's not ready or should he listen to father but watch him die? Should he act as judge, jury, and executioner by killing General Zod to save his adoptive home or should he not kill the last of his own species? This brought him to question whether humanity was worth saving and protecting. By murdering Zod, he knows that he is now truly alone.

If The Last Son of Krypton has anything to teach us about ourselves, it's that it's definitely not easy to be virtuous and honourable. Superman is many things but being a dull character isn't one of them. But rather, he makes one hell of a character for me to continue reading about.

The Importance of Culture

Making work rock or at least suck less

By

Tzen Szen

on October 25, 2015 1.25pm

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We spend a huge part of our lives at work. Since we spend a lot of our time working, it makes sense for a person to like what they do or at least work on something that we're willing to makes sacrifices for. It is surprising how many people in this world don't actually like what they do for a living. A huge part of this dislike can be attributed to working/corporate culture.

Being part of different organisations in these short 20 years of my life, I have experienced different working cultures, with each of them having their own significant impact on me. A lot of the time, the most important themes that I have noticed about working culture involves the mission of the organisation, the people I'm surrounded by, the values, and practices.

Mission, people, values, and practices

If you perform a Google search on the mission statement of any major company that interests you, you'll probably come up with some interesting results. You might find some really simple ones like the ones found here:

Google - To organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Alzheimer’s Association - To eliminate Alzheimer's disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health.

SpaceX - To revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.

It doesn't take much to figure out that people can easily relate to these mission statements because they are simple, concise, and ultimately, good. It's undeniable that organising the world's information, eliminating Alzheimer's disease, or getting humans to colonise Mars one day are good things. These mission statements are also great because of what they don't mention. Terms like customers, shareholders, and profits are nowhere to be found unlike, for example with Procter & Gamble. Employees associated with the organisations then have a meaning to their work as their missions are less about profits or business goals but more about having a positive impact on the world. Deep down, nobody wants to just be another cog in a machine.

Values are at the core of any culture. While a mission expresses a company’s purpose, values offer a set of guidelines on the conduct and ethos required in order to achieve that mission. Yes, having a set of values and practising them matter. It matters especially when you are trying to accomplish your mission. Is it really success when you get something done but doing it misguidedly?

Putting values into practice to accomplish a mission doesn't have to mean having free gourmet food, crazy offices, or other various perks. It starts with the most basic things like sharing as much information with everyone or giving people a platform to channel their opinions. Being transparent and open is a large part of companies like Facebook and SpaceX. It's why even Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk have regular desks and cubicles respectively like other employees. Google encourages transparency through weekly TGIF meetings on Friday with their co-founders, Larry and Sergey, and other various execs where employees can ask them any question on just about anything. They also have the annual “Googlegeist” survey (response rate of 88% or more) to gather feedback from employees to solve the largest problems at the company.

People are the spine of any organisation or company and having great people surrouding you makes such a huge difference. From product managers to the CEO, the right people in any organisation will definitely make or break it. Take my medical school in Sheffield, in the UK, for example.

When treating others nicely is the norm, you'll be called out for doing otherwise

Entering a completely new environment is naturally a very daunting process. But I found it quite amazing how relatively easy it was to adjust to my new environment, which was largely due to being surrounded by the amazing people I now call my friends and colleagues. It's difficult to find distasteful people around (although people like that exist in any large organisation) because it's just unnatural be a horrid person when you are in a nice community. When treating others nicely is the norm, you'll be called out for doing otherwise.

There are other factors that influence culture at work but these few components can largely influence and shape any company or organisation. While work is still a large part of our lives, it doesn't necessarily have to suck.

Products to Platforms

Utilising the power of the people

By

Tzen Szen

on October 12, 2015 10.25am

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It's always easy to define the term product, which simply means goods or services produced or refined for purchase. The same can't be said for the term platform, however. A quick Google search of the word will show you the definitions of the word which include "a raised level surface on which people or things can stand", "the declared policy of a political party or group", and "a shoe with very thick soles".

In the world of computing, the word platform is utlised to denote a complete software programming development environment and underlying subsystem. Today, a platform is somewhat different; many industries consider it to be anything that you can build upon. Platforms are a huge part of many of our lives now and a significant amount of enterprises now have a focus on transitioning their products into platforms.

Some of the amazing platforms I interact with on a frequent basis include the Android operating system (OS), Facebook, Youtube, and Quora (a personal favourite of mine). As long as platforms continue to have a large impact on their millions of users everyday, they are definitely here to stay. In fact, platform-based companies have higher chances of impacting many more users than traditional businesses which produce one or more closely related product or services.

A win-win-win situation for everyone

Let's take Google's Android OS as an example. Android now has more than 1 billion 30-day active users and the Google Play Store boasts more than 1.5 million mobile apps. The success of Google's mobile OS is largely due to the fact that is a great platform for mobile app developers and enthusiasts to build great products for the platform, essentially creating a thriving ecosystem. Offering tools such as application programming interfaces (APIs) and software development kits (SDKs) allows developers to build and sell better apps to help solve their users' problems on top of driving inovation for Android - a win-win-win situation for everyone.

Platforms are great for users as they are empowered to create content to upload, view, and share with other users around the world. The generation of fantastic content is even more evident on websites like YouTube and Quora. How many of the videos uploaded to YouTube are done individually? The popular video-sharing site has content like reviews, tutorials, and vlogs from a wide range of topics that contain a wealth of information which even sparked permanent careers for some YouTubers.

On the Q&A website, Quora, users are allowed to follow multiple topics of their interest while also asking questions and providing answers to other questions. It really is refreshing to find how Quora combines various experiences and curiousity to provide cumulative intelligence.

Consumers buy products, not platforms

Products are still relevant today as they tend to be at the front-end of what users see. Consumers buy products, not plaforms. In today's world, however, it is increasingly important to think about platforms as a framework for businesses before products. It is this framework that should pave the way for product strategy; what a platform does is to allow multiple products to be built in the same framework.

Google started off as a search engine all those years ago. Dominating Internet search allowed Google to pave the way for other products such as Gmail, Maps, Chrome, and Android, among others, allowing an expansion of the platform. Amazon started as an online bookstore and then started allowing other third-party vendors to sell their products on their site. At the same time, their retail platform gathered a huge amount of data about how people carry out shopping online on top of making their "one-click" shopping experience available for those third-parties to use as well.

Facebook is another platform worth mentioning. The website is first and foremost, a social networking site. You can log in to it online to use as a web service or you can download the mobile Facebook app to your device and log in through the app. The Facebook platform is now more than just a social networking site. It sets itself apart not just because of their 1 billion active users, but because of their extensive knowledge of their users' interest. Having the "Like" and "Share" buttons across the web allows them to understand their users beyond the boundaries of Facebook.com. Allowing external parties to plug into this information generates a multiplier effect of sorts by gaining more data about users when they access those external parties.

Consumers, not governments or enterprises, are driving today's economy more than ever. Building platforms are tough, but the return of investment of strong, consumer-driven platforms is clearly evident with the generation of great content, solving real-world problems, and boosting innovtion at the core of these returns.

Explained: Google Nexus

The pure Android experience defined

By

Tzen Szen

on September 29, 2015 1.13pm

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Since Google's reported $50 million acquisition of Android Inc. back in 2005, the Android operating system has since been invading many of our mobile devices that we use today. With 8 out of 10 smartphones in 2014 shipping Android, 400 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), 500 carriers, over 4000 devices, and over 1 billion 30-day active users, Android's rise to the top of the smartphone foodchain is nothing short of amazing. Customers are now spoilt for choice when selecting an Android device with the large variety of devices in the market currently available.

Over 1 billion 30-day active users

However, with all the different types of Android devices, there is a huge issue for Google to exhibit the best of the Android on top of maintaining their dominance in the smartphone business. The latest Android version would be released months after being officially launched. Users and developers have to wait longer times to experience the new software which could seriously hurt Google in this highly competitive business.

Google's solution to these problems comes in the form of their Nexus devices; their flagship Android devices. New Nexus devices - be it smartphone, tablet, or digital media player - are typically released around November every year with the latest version of Android.

Nexus devices are designed, developed, marketed, and supported by Google themselves with some development and manufacturing carried out in partnership with OEMs. OEMs that have been working with Google to manufacture the Nexus devices include HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola, and Asus.

Many OEMs and carriers opt to have a skinned version of the operating system and additional bloatware on their devices that leaves behind a poor user experience. For example, Samsung introduces a heavily skinned version of Android in their smartphones called TouchWiz while HTC has HTC Sense. Nexus devices are significantly different from devices made by other OEMs as they are free from that bloatware.

Arguably, these modified versions of Android have built-in features that aim to provide a better experience for their customers and provide an edge against other manufacturers. Unfortunately, more often than not, this only bogs down their devices and hence, the beginning of the perception that most Android devices are unresponsive and slow.

Having the Nexus line of devices allows Google to showcase the best of their mobile operating system as Nexus devices offer Android in the purest form, also known as stock Android. The Nexus devices will set the tone for other Android device manufacturers; they represent what Google's vision of what Android should look and feel like.

In exchange, users owning a Nexus device are guaranteed timely Android software updates from Google themselves, usually making them to be one of the first few devices to rock the latest version of Android. Nexus devices are also great for developers seeking to test their apps on the latest version of Android. An unlocked bootloader is the cherry on the top for Android enthusiasts who want to try out custom ROMs.

Nexus devices are guaranteed timely Android software updates

You will find that the sales of Nexus smartphones and tablets aren't as spectacular when compared to other manufacturers like Apple or Samsung. Getting your hands as on a Nexus device isn't a walk in the park too as they aren't advertised as much, not sold in every part of the world, and have a limited number of devices at launch. I had to wait for a few months before getting my hands on my old Nexus 4.

While the Search giant isn't aiming to profit from the sales of these devices, the need for Nexus devices is still apparent and Google needs to continue making them in order to assert their dominance in a world where the first computer someone picks up will probably come in the form of a smartphone. It needs to keep a high level of buzz around Android for the reasons described above while taking a lead in mobile search to keep money coming in.

"The Spirit of The Game"

The foundation of a beautiful sport

By

Tzen Szen

on September 18, 2015 1.30pm

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Ultimate (as it is commonly known) is a non-contact team sport played by hundreds of thousands around the world in pickup games and by recreational, school, club, professional, and national teams at various age levels and with open, women's, and mixed tournaments. Having a unique set of rules, it is usually played between two teams of seven players on a rectangular pitch with a disc weighing 175 grams.

Played in more than 80 countries by an estimated 7 million people

The sport is based off a few, more established sports including, American football, basketball, and soccer. For example, a player cannot travel with the disc (like in basketball), scores a point by getting the disc past a line drawn at either ends of the pitch creating two "endzones" (American football), and the defending team attempts to stop the team with the disc from making progress upfield by marking them (soccer or basketball).

It was in the fall of 2013 that I was introduced to the fast-growing sport of Ultimate by a group of friends at college. Picking up the basics and playing as many times during the week, although not at a competitive level, has gotten me hooked onto the sport. Just like all sports, Ultimate is full of ups and downs; it can leave you exhilirated, frustrated, and invigorated at different points in a game or sometimes, all at once. Since starting university at Sheffield, I have continued playing as much as I can by going for more formal training sessions and taking part in a couple of tournaments.

Ultimate has since come a long way from the time it was introduced by Joel Silver in 1968. Its rapid growth can be marked with the recent recognition of the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF), the body that governs Ultimate, by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which allows the sport to be potentially include in future Olympic games.

Apart from the sport making it mandatory for men and women to be part of the same team, the other thing that sets Ultimate from other sports is its lack of referees. Ultimate relies heavily on "The Spirit of The Game", the spirit of sportsmanship that places the accountability of fair play on the players themselves. That simply means any dispute on the field will be handled by the players without the help of referees in every game of Ultimate ranging from pickups to tournaments.

All actions are governed by "The Spirit of The Game"

This honour system works just fine in Ultimate because this is part of the culture of the sport that has been baked into its DNA. Ultimate players highly value "The Spirit of The Game"; when you have a culture of a people treating each other the way they want to treated by others, anyone behaving otherwise will be called out. It just looks horrible when you are the only person being mean to another player. Sure, you do get a person or two who goes out of line once in awhile, but that isn't the norm. I can confidently enter the playing field knowing that I just can just focus on the game itself.

Ultimate is just as highly competitive as any other sport. Yet, the level of sportsmanship that can be seen in the sport can't be compared to other sports that I've played and it is one of the many reasons that I keep coming back for more. Games are always more fun without any hostility.

Play hard and fair. Have fun. Go again.

Update: This post originally stated that major tournaments rely on "The Spirit of The Game". AUDL and MLU are the only 2 pro leagues in the world and these two leagues both uses referees. USAU (U.S.A ultimate) uses observers for all its competition (nationals, regionals and sectionals).

WFDF recently started using observers for its major tournaments. This means most (if not all) of the major tournaments do not rely solely on "The Spirit of The Game" to govern its games.

Explained: Alphabet Inc.

Why the Google co-founders created their own alphabet

By

Tzen Szen

on September 15, 2015 12.04pm

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Earlier in August, Google co-founder, Larry Page, announced the birth of Alphabet Inc. and the major restructuring of Google in a blog post. The breaking of the news caught the world by surprise and sparked a lot of discussion, confussion, and left many puzzled. Some of questions that I personally had included: "What does this mean for Google?", "Why are they doing this?", and "What is the full list of subsidaries under Alphabet?"

Alphabet Inc. is a proposed public holding company with many businesses inside it, of which Google is the largest. Other subsidaries under Alphabet include Calico (focusing on aging), Capital, Life Sciences (working on glucose-sensing contact lenses), Nest, Ventures, and the X labs. Larry Page will assume the role of CEO of Alphabet with the help of Sergey Brin as President. This new structure can be thought as being modelled along the lines of Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, one of the largest holding companies in the world.

"If we were motivated by money, we would have sold the company a long time ago and ended up on a beach." - Larry Page

Having a good, long thought about it, Google's reorganisation into Alphabet does make sense. The vision of the Google co-founders can be clearly highlighted in their move. Let's keep things real; Larry Page and Sergey Brin aren't obsessed with the business of search advertising. Don't get me wrong though, Google is still a business and it does rely on the revenue brought in by search advertising to keep things running.

What sets these two co-founders apart from their peers is their constant pursuit of bold, audacious ideas, which also include moonshots. Over the years, Google has expanded to include their numerous products, which include Search, Maps, Gmail, Android, Chrome, and YouTube. Top that off with moonshots like the self-driving car project and Project Loon, Google has grown into quite an organisational hell.

So yes, the Alphabet reorganisation does make sense to keep things more accountable and cleaner, which also gives Google the chance to focus on its core products. Getting great CEOs to continue the day-to-day work at the office will hopefully get the best out of each business. This in turn will make it a win-win for almost everyone including the investors of Google, who aren't very pleased with moonshots as they are still a far cry from being monetized.

"Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one."

In his blog post, Larry reminded us what Sergey and him wrote in the original founders letter 11 years ago by saying, “Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one.” That being said, they've always like to keep pusing themselves as they've realised that being great just isn't good enough. What we can expect from the businesses under Alphabet in the future is to see their projects and products actually becoming a reality. It is exciting to see what a relatively small group of people can do to get more ambitious things done by taking the long-term view which can potentially result in improving the lives of billions around the world.

This is be best summed up in the words of cultural antropologist, Margaret Mead, who said: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

The Tesla Effect

How the way we think about automobiles & energy is changing

By

Tzen Szen

on August 19, 2015 3.25pm

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I haven't always been particularly interested in automobiles. Sure, I thought certain cars were quite interesting as they stood out more than others because they were faster, more exclusive, or simply looked better and I always do enjoy an adrenaline-rush whenever I had the rare opportunity to have a ride in a sports car. After Tesla Motors rolled out the Tesla Model S to their customers, that quickly changed.

Model S is Tesla's all-electric sedan and is the second vehicle released by the company with the first being the Tesla Roadster. Tesla's corporate strategy uses 3 stages to fund a new car type through the sales of the previous models. The first stage was making the Tesla Roadster high price but low volume. Model S is the second in the 3 stages with mid price and mid volume. The third stage will be low price but high volume in the form of Model 3, which was announced in July last year. So, what exactly makes Tesla Motors and their products so unique?

For me, it really is about how a group of engineers from Silicon Valley wanted to show that electric cars can be as be as good, if not better than the conventional gasoline/petroleum-powered cars. Take a look at electric cars before the rise of Tesla. Other, more established automakers have been developing and building electric cars for quite some time. Have a look at most of them and you'll soon realise how each car might have something compromised like the speed, range, design, or some combination of the 3.

Model S represented what other electric cars did not

I was highly impressed with what I saw when the Tesla Model S was delivered to customers in mid-2012. Apart from the delays in deliveries and the struggle to keep up with the orders, Model S represented what other electric cars did not. It is a beautifully designed car (both inside and outside) with exceptional range, power, efficiency, and speed.

Model S can be associated with fine wine; the car arguably does improve with time. Tesla updates its cars through over-the-air (OTA) software updates just like how smartphones get their software updated. It started off with an acceleration of 0-60 mph in 5.6 seconds but Model S is now in supercar territory with an acceleration of 0-60 mph in 2.8 seconds on the Model S P85D in "Ludicrous Mode". Autopilot mode was also a new feature that was introduced through an OTA software update which allowed the car to steer and park by itself.

"Ludicrous Mode" = 0-60 mph in 2.8 seconds

The "Tesla Effect" is what I dub as the effect that Tesla Motors is having on the automobile and energy industries. Tesla isn't a conventional automobile company and I am quite sure they don't intend to be one. Being also an energy and technology company, they are constantly pushing the boundaries of their pursuits, from having their cars recharge much faster than others on the market to ever-expanding Supercharger network around the world and even having me excited about batteries in the form of the Powerwall.

Perhaps their most astonishing move was when their current CEO, Elon Musk, announced that they were opening all their patents and were in favour in going open-source in this blog post. It actually shows how serious they are in pushing the industry towards sustainable transport by getting other, more seasoned automakers on board with the whole, "electric cars don't have to suck" mantra. Yes, the 70 kWh base version of the Model S in the single motor version at $70,000 is still above the budget of what most people would pay for a car but with the release of Model 3 in the next few years at around $35,000 to $40,000, we can all hope to see that great, self-sustaining electric vehicles will soon be the norm.

Explained: Moonshots

The grey space between sci-fi and radical technology

By

Tzen Szen

on August 7, 2015 1.25pm

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Back in September 12th 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy delivered what is known to be the "We choose to go to the Moon" speech before a crowd of 35,000 people in Houston, Texas. Fast forward 7 years later, the Apollo 11 mission succeeded in landing a man to the moon and returning him safely back to Earth. These series of events changed the world and not only marks the first ever landing of man on the moon but also the birth of the word "moonshot".

Enter 2015, the term is used by search giant, Google, albeit rather differently as they use it to describe to their many audacious projects that notably include Google Glass, Project Loon, special contact lenses that detect blood sugar levels and self-driving cars. These moonshots are given birth in a special division of Google called Google[x], their so-called "Moonshot Factory". So, what exactly encompasses a moonshot?

A moonshot is essentially made up of 3 things. The first would be a huge problem. To define a huge problem, think about how many people it is currently or potentially affecting people around the world. The more people it affects, the larger the problem. These would include the global energy crisis, healthcare inequalities, finding better ways to diagnose and treat cancer, and climate change.

Huge problem + radical solution + breakthrough technology = Moonshot

The second component of a moonshot is a radical solution that stands on the edge of science fiction. For example, the number of road traffic accidents that occur annually are staggering. Some solutions are to educate drivers better about road safety, having better road conditions, etc. but although they are considered solutions, they aren't considered radical solutions seeing that there are still many accidents that happen everyday. Since most accidents are caused by human error, why don't humans stop driving and let self-driving cars do the job? Well hang on, can we actually build self-driving cars capable of transporting us around safely and efficiently in the first place?

This brings me to the last part of the moonshot equation which is breakthrough technology that ties everything together. The importance of this breakthrough technology or scientific reason is to ensure that it is not completely insane to go and try to solve that problem. Coming back to the car, there are sensors and software now available that are sophisticated enough for a car to know it's own location, what's around it, to make predictions about it's environment, and what it should do next, just like how a person thinks while driving. Fulfilling these 3 components will then yield a moonshot.

Think 10X

The underlying ethos about moonshots is to think 10X (10 times) instead of 10% to have a chance of really changing things and what I like most about this concept is that it represents a disciplined method of solving the huge problems around us. Using science and technology to bring almost magical solutions to life makes me marvel at what humans have accomplished and can continue accomplishing stemming from the small and personal to the large and audacious.

While the term moonshot is relatively new, the idea of moonshots have been around throughout human history. No one at first really knew how the human body works, how to build an airplane, or if the world was round. What these accomplishments illustrate is the fundamental curiosity and wonder that humans have that pushes humanity forward. When President Kennedy announced that the United States was going to send a man to the moon, the most poetic and beautiful part about the whole thing is the fact that he basically said, "Look, we don't know how to do this yet, but we're gonna do it anyway," and it really does set others on fire because if that really happens, what can't we do?

"Hello, World!"

Introduction to my blog

By

Tzen Szen

on August 5, 2015 1:44pm

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My name is Tzen Szen, a medical student at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. I often find the 140 characters on Twitter insufficient to express what I want to say. Facebook posts could possibly do the job but what I really wanted was my own space so that I too, could write in great detail about the topics that I am interested in and have an opinion about.

Thus, choosing to use the blogging platform, Blogger, was a straightforward decision. Having seen the templates available by default, I've also decided to strip everything down to the bare minimum and learnt the basics of designing for the web to create this blog which you are viewing today.

My plan is to focus on sharing my personal thoughts and insights about the medical and tech industries. I will be paying some attention to review some products that I currently use and also share my experiences in medical school and studying abroad in the United Kingdom.

Thoughts, insights, and experiences

Whether you are reading this post from a mobile device or personal computer, I hope that the viewing experience will be pleasant across all platforms. Feel free to explore around the blog and do let me know if there is anything that can be improved upon through the comments, email, Twitter, or Facebook. A new post is currently in the works, so stay tuned for what's next!