Esdena: Social Marketplace
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in stocks
I am sure a lot of you have already heard about this, Google officially acquired YouTube yesterday with $1.65 billion in stocks and other consideration. This act slaps Mark Cuban right in his face. Read his blog post about
His prediction about Youtube's failure prior to the acquisition: http://www.blogmaverick.com/2006/09/29/riddle-me-this-copyright-gurus/
His thoughts on the acquisition before it went down:
http://www.blogmaverick.com/2006/10/07/some-thoughts-on-youtube-and-google/
His thoughts on the acquisition after it happened:
http://www.blogmaverick.com/2006/10/09/i-still-think-google-is-crazy/
Being in the industry of internet development, I really don't know what to think of this. Mark Cuban did raise a great point about potential detrimental law suits regarding copyright infringements and how "Gootube" is actively sorting out deals with various media companies to allow pretty much their contents to be pirated in return for sharing of revenues. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Anyhow, here's a video of the 2 founders, Chad and Steve, of YouTube sharing their thoughts on the acquisition.
college textbooks,social marketplace, Google, YouTube,Mark Cuban, ¶ 6:43 AM 0 comments
His prediction about Youtube's failure prior to the acquisition: http://www.blogmaverick.com/2006/09/29/riddle-me-this-copyright-gurus/
His thoughts on the acquisition before it went down:
http://www.blogmaverick.com/2006/10/07/some-thoughts-on-youtube-and-google/
His thoughts on the acquisition after it happened:
http://www.blogmaverick.com/2006/10/09/i-still-think-google-is-crazy/
Being in the industry of internet development, I really don't know what to think of this. Mark Cuban did raise a great point about potential detrimental law suits regarding copyright infringements and how "Gootube" is actively sorting out deals with various media companies to allow pretty much their contents to be pirated in return for sharing of revenues. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Anyhow, here's a video of the 2 founders, Chad and Steve, of YouTube sharing their thoughts on the acquisition.
college textbooks,social marketplace, Google, YouTube,Mark Cuban, ¶ 6:43 AM 0 comments
Monday, September 25, 2006
Bill Clinton on FOX bashing Chris Wallace
If you have not already saw this on TV, you need to see it. Whether you like Clinton as a president/husband or not, you have to admire his analytical skill and his courage to admit mistakes and address important issues. Enjoy!
Part I
Part II
college textbooks,social marketplace, Politics, Bill Clinton,FOX, >,Chris Wallace, ¶ 8:28 AM 0 comments
Part I
Part II
college textbooks,social marketplace, Politics, Bill Clinton,FOX, >,Chris Wallace, ¶ 8:28 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Northwestern, Evanston, and Chicago
Hey welcome back NU students! Hope y'all had a great summer either chilling at home with friends and homies, filling up your resume with internships or volunteering stuff, or travel abroad to do some touristy/not so touristy stuff.
When I was Evanston at May earlier this year to visit my sister, NU gave me 3 impressions:
1. Cold
2. Cold
3. Cold
For real, it was May and it was maybe 40-50. I was freezing even with my long sleeves and jackets on. What do you guys do in the winter!?
Anyhow, welcome back guys, and if you want to steer away from getting ripped off by Norris, come check out our site at www.esdena.com where you can buy/sell directly from/to other NU students!
college textbooks,social marketplace, Northwestern University, Evanston,Chicago, ¶ 8:34 AM 0 comments
When I was Evanston at May earlier this year to visit my sister, NU gave me 3 impressions:
1. Cold
2. Cold
3. Cold
For real, it was May and it was maybe 40-50. I was freezing even with my long sleeves and jackets on. What do you guys do in the winter!?
Anyhow, welcome back guys, and if you want to steer away from getting ripped off by Norris, come check out our site at www.esdena.com where you can buy/sell directly from/to other NU students!
college textbooks,social marketplace, Northwestern University, Evanston,Chicago, ¶ 8:34 AM 0 comments
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Social bookmarking, Social Marketplace
Social book marking has gotten more and more popular in the internet world, companies like technorati, del.icio.us, Digg are the pioneers of this movement and others like Google, Tagworld, MySpace are jumping quickly on the bandwagon.
As more and more users engage in social bookmarking and internet marketers make their websites "social bookmarking friendly", many speculated that social bookmarking sites are going to take over search engines as the dominant place where web users find their websites.
The question is, will they?
college textbooks,social marketplace, social bookmarking, ¶ 6:22 PM 0 comments
As more and more users engage in social bookmarking and internet marketers make their websites "social bookmarking friendly", many speculated that social bookmarking sites are going to take over search engines as the dominant place where web users find their websites.
The question is, will they?
college textbooks,social marketplace, social bookmarking, ¶ 6:22 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Welcome back MIT! and Why Do People Hate Corporations
First of all, welcome back MIT students! Good luck with your 1st day of class and all that!
Anyhow, I don't know about elsewhere, but at least here at Rice, people HATE corporations. Businesses and extreprenuers are seen as mercenary, greedy pigs that care only about money.
These people just never seem to remember their own parents probably will not have a job if it werent for these businesses, the very school that they go to is probably funded by an entreprenuer, and the TV, A/C, car... that you "can't live without" are probably invented, materialized, and promoted by corporations.
There are several questions I want to ask:
Did Greenpeace invented Hybrid cars? Or did Toyota?
Did Friends of the Earth revolutionized the energy industry by introducing more efficient fuels? Or did BP?
My point here is, I believe for-profit corporations are more effective than non-profits organizations in achieving social means.
Why? Because of tax breaks provided to companies when they make donations.
What? Yes, because of the tax breaks, very often, a company almost HAVE to donate some money. I mean, financially, they will have to pay anyway, they might as well build a good rep by donating those money they would otherwise in paying in form of tax. Therefore businesses will always donate to non-profits which fit the following criteria:
1. Have close connections with the corporations
2. Throw a good (by good, I mean luxurious most of the time) charity event
3. Able to create good PR for the business
Ok, so NONE of these 3 says anything about the non-profits ability to achieve their social goals. My point is, because non-profits are removed from direct force of the market, they are NOT as efficient as for-profits to benefit the society.
Because lets face it, you will only buy a coke for $1 if you think it worth more than $1 to you. What is a better prove of contribution to the society than that?
You can disagree with me, but this is what I think.
college textbooks,social marketplace, education, non-profit organizations, society, charity ¶ 7:33 AM 1 comments
Anyhow, I don't know about elsewhere, but at least here at Rice, people HATE corporations. Businesses and extreprenuers are seen as mercenary, greedy pigs that care only about money.
These people just never seem to remember their own parents probably will not have a job if it werent for these businesses, the very school that they go to is probably funded by an entreprenuer, and the TV, A/C, car... that you "can't live without" are probably invented, materialized, and promoted by corporations.
There are several questions I want to ask:
Did Greenpeace invented Hybrid cars? Or did Toyota?
Did Friends of the Earth revolutionized the energy industry by introducing more efficient fuels? Or did BP?
My point here is, I believe for-profit corporations are more effective than non-profits organizations in achieving social means.
Why? Because of tax breaks provided to companies when they make donations.
What? Yes, because of the tax breaks, very often, a company almost HAVE to donate some money. I mean, financially, they will have to pay anyway, they might as well build a good rep by donating those money they would otherwise in paying in form of tax. Therefore businesses will always donate to non-profits which fit the following criteria:
1. Have close connections with the corporations
2. Throw a good (by good, I mean luxurious most of the time) charity event
3. Able to create good PR for the business
Ok, so NONE of these 3 says anything about the non-profits ability to achieve their social goals. My point is, because non-profits are removed from direct force of the market, they are NOT as efficient as for-profits to benefit the society.
Because lets face it, you will only buy a coke for $1 if you think it worth more than $1 to you. What is a better prove of contribution to the society than that?
You can disagree with me, but this is what I think.
college textbooks,social marketplace, education, non-profit organizations, society, charity ¶ 7:33 AM 1 comments
Thursday, August 31, 2006
New Features + More Satisfied Customers
Hi, just a quick update here, after this week of hectic transactions, we acquired some valuable feedbacks from y'all and made some changes to the site accordingly.
First off, we recognize that many of you do not use your school email as your primary email address, and thus offer you to add a secondary email address on your account. To add one, please go to "my account" and then "my profile".
Also, there was a little confusion about what the buyers and sellers should do after the sale online, we therefore included more instructions on our sales emails and emails confirmation, including the contact info of both the buyers and the sellers. We will also add more instructions throughout the sales process to ensure seamless transactions.
We have also compiled a list of ideas you guys gave us and will implement it soon, so check out our site at www.esdena.com often!
At the mean time, here's another list of happy customers of Esdena.com! (Thanks Cole, Pradyna, and Gilbert for giving us permission to post your picture here!)
college textbooks,student marketplace, education, testimonials, new features ¶ 8:21 AM 0 comments
First off, we recognize that many of you do not use your school email as your primary email address, and thus offer you to add a secondary email address on your account. To add one, please go to "my account" and then "my profile".
Also, there was a little confusion about what the buyers and sellers should do after the sale online, we therefore included more instructions on our sales emails and emails confirmation, including the contact info of both the buyers and the sellers. We will also add more instructions throughout the sales process to ensure seamless transactions.
We have also compiled a list of ideas you guys gave us and will implement it soon, so check out our site at www.esdena.com often!
At the mean time, here's another list of happy customers of Esdena.com! (Thanks Cole, Pradyna, and Gilbert for giving us permission to post your picture here!)
college textbooks,student marketplace, education, testimonials, new features ¶ 8:21 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Why are YOU still at Rice? Go get a life/job!
I have been promoting Esdena.com with Jack on Rice campus for the past 2 days and it is personally quite awkward for me to hand out flyers in the middle of academic quad. It is awkward at several different levels:
1. For students that do not know me or have not seen me:
It is awkward because they think I am some sort of promotion guy that is just soliciting for a company or something
2. For students that kind of know me or have seen me around:
It is awkward as they are probably thinking, "What is he doing handing out flyers?"
3. For people that knows me decently well, well enough to know that I have graduated:
This is most awkward of all, they are like, "What are YOU doing here?" or "Why are you STILL here?" and probably thinking "gosh, go get a life/job". What they do not realize is that this IS my life/job/business. My business is college orientated and campus is where my business partners, customers, suppliers are from.
Despite all the awkwardness, I really treasure this opportunity for me to really interact with my customers, and I got some valuable feedback from talking to some of them face to face. (Thanks Jessica, Monique, Ekim, and Christian) and here are some encouraging statistics of Esdena at Rice this week:
1. Over 1200 students responded to our promotion (flyers and email) and visited our site
2. Of which over 220 of them registered as members
3. And resulted in over 50 sales and countless listings
Here are some of our satisfied customers: (Thanks Alexandra, Ekim, and Vanessa for giving me permission to post these pictures)
1. For students that do not know me or have not seen me:
It is awkward because they think I am some sort of promotion guy that is just soliciting for a company or something
2. For students that kind of know me or have seen me around:
It is awkward as they are probably thinking, "What is he doing handing out flyers?"
3. For people that knows me decently well, well enough to know that I have graduated:
This is most awkward of all, they are like, "What are YOU doing here?" or "Why are you STILL here?" and probably thinking "gosh, go get a life/job". What they do not realize is that this IS my life/job/business. My business is college orientated and campus is where my business partners, customers, suppliers are from.
Despite all the awkwardness, I really treasure this opportunity for me to really interact with my customers, and I got some valuable feedback from talking to some of them face to face. (Thanks Jessica, Monique, Ekim, and Christian) and here are some encouraging statistics of Esdena at Rice this week:
1. Over 1200 students responded to our promotion (flyers and email) and visited our site
2. Of which over 220 of them registered as members
3. And resulted in over 50 sales and countless listings
Here are some of our satisfied customers: (Thanks Alexandra, Ekim, and Vanessa for giving me permission to post these pictures)
From tomorrow onward, we will shift gear and start marketing at UT and Tulane. Jack will be travelling to Lousiana this weekend whereas I will mainly work with Clement on the site stuff and do some internet marketing. So hopefully you won't see me at Rice unitl Mardi Gras (Hanszen's one)!
college textbooks,student marketplace, education, Rice University, Esdena ¶ 10:59 AM 0 comments
High Hopes for Esdena
Today is the second day of school. I have high hopes for Esdena's capability to work at Rice this semester, the books are selling on Esdena. There were a few transaction problems but overall nothing that our Clement couldn't handle.
Today I will be telling all my friends to put their books for listing on Esdena to have more books available.
Look for me in a green-ring T-Shirt with Buy/Sell Textbooks at www.esdena.com
cheers, PS: that's my new cat, Hermione ¶ 6:04 AM 0 comments
Today is the second day of school. I have high hopes for Esdena's capability to work at Rice this semester, the books are selling on Esdena. There were a few transaction problems but overall nothing that our Clement couldn't handle.
Today I will be telling all my friends to put their books for listing on Esdena to have more books available.
Look for me in a green-ring T-Shirt with Buy/Sell Textbooks at www.esdena.com
cheers, PS: that's my new cat, Hermione ¶ 6:04 AM 0 comments
