jai choi's blog - ALL THINGS CONSUMED IN THE DIGITAL WORLD + FOOD + ASIA

What I'm reading for 2012: The Big Little Book of Nexts

2012-01-03T12:41:00.000-08:00

THE BIG LITTLE BOOK OF NEXTS: Trendspotting for 2012

View more documents from Doudoux Freelance

Innovation and Strategic Growth

2011-02-10T14:23:00.001-08:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Innovation and Strategic Growth

View more presentations from Idris Mootee.

10 business models that rocked 2010 - by @nickdemey (boardofinnovation.com)

2011-02-10T14:22:00.001-08:00

10 business models that rocked 2010 - by @nickdemey (boardofinnovation.com)

View more presentations from Board of Innovation (BOI).

Social Media for Business

2010-11-18T22:08:00.001-08:00

Social Media for Business

View more presentations from Presentation Advisors.

Digital Goods Real Billions

2010-11-18T22:06:00.001-08:00

Digital Goods Real Billions

View more presentations from Benjamin Joffe.

Digital Innovation in Asia

2010-11-18T21:59:00.001-08:00

Digital Innovation in Asia

View more presentations from Benjamin Joffe.

Ten Questions Internet Execs Should Ask & Answer

2010-11-16T23:57:00.001-08:00

Internet Trends Presentation

China (2010 – 2020): What Will China Look Like in the Future?

2010-11-09T23:28:00.001-08:00

China (2010 – 2020): What Will China Look Like in the Future?

View more presentations from France Houdard.

How Big Retail Deploys Social Commerce

2010-11-09T22:18:00.001-08:00

How Big Retail Deploys Social Commerce

View more presentations from Paul Marsden.

The Science of Social Media

2010-11-09T22:16:00.001-08:00

The Science of Social Media

View more presentations from Dan Zarrella.

Facebook Research by DDB Paris and Opinionway

2010-11-09T22:14:00.001-08:00

Facebook Research by DDB Paris and Opinionway

View more presentations from Social Marketing Diva.

Social Currency: how brands + publishers can create content of real value

2010-11-09T22:10:00.001-08:00

Social Currency: how brands + publishers can create content of real value

View more presentations from Wally Sabria.

Cristiano Ronaldo - Top 10 Goals - 2007-08

2010-06-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

Incredible Cristiano Ronaldo

2010-06-21T13:38:00.000-07:00

SO Restaurant ( - My New Favorite Go-To Place for Comfort Fusion/Asian Food

2010-06-11T12:52:00.001-07:00

So I’m late to the party on this one but kudos to my friend to my friend SharonChoe(http://peerpong.com/sharonchoe) for telling me about this place.

THE FRIED STUFF

I could eat 100 of SO’s signature crack chicken wings!

Handmade Dumplings:

Friend Shrimp Dumplings

Ebi Katsu Sticks

Curry Fried Rice

Black Bean Noodles

Located on in SOMA area, on Bryant St (Btwn 8^th/9^th, across street from Mercedes Dealership). And, all/most of their entrees are under $10!!!!

Posted via email from jaichoi's posterous

Listening to...

2010-06-10T12:26:00.001-07:00

Feist - 03 - My Moon My Man by Feist

Posted via web from jaichoi's posterous

Black Eyed Peas Remix (Calvin Harris)

2010-06-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

Black Eyed Peas vs. Calvin Harris - Meet Me Alone (Kababo & Kofod Bootleg) by Kababo & Kofod

PeerPong takes an expert approach to the heated Q & A space

2010-06-01T16:14:00.001-07:00

Another milestone for our little company PeerPong - Public Beta. Here's the write-up on VentureBeat.

Please sign-up at http://www.peerpong.com

June 1, 2010 | Kim-Mai Cutler

The field of startups taking on questions and answers is about to get a little more crowded.

PeerPong, a San Francisco-based startup that helps people find experts to answer their questions, launched its beta today. PeerPong scours peoples’ social media profiles on sites like Twitter to determine their interests and talents. If you log on, it will sift through your status updates on Facebook to figure out what you’re knowledgeable at. Then it creates an online directory of experts across 12 major categories and routes them the right questions that match their skills.

“You want to be able to find an answer from someone who has actually dealt with the problem, as opposed to a general consensus kind of answer,” said cofounder Ro Choy, who was previously chief revenue officer for RockYou, the social-gaming company.

PeerPong uses natural-language processing to analyze what you talk about most influentially on Twitter. It looks at different keywords in your tweets, and compares how often you mention them to other Twitter users. Interestingly enough, Choy says Twitter can be a better gauge of interests than Facebook, because people are projecting very publicly what’s compelling to them. He said he probably wouldn’t share as much content about technology, startups and venture capital with friends and family members on Facebook as he would on Twitter, for example.

PeerPong is a slightly different approach from other startups like Quora, Hunch, and Aardvark, as well as Facebook’s forthcoming Questions feature, which are all part of a broad trend to organize informal knowledge through questions and answers. Aardvark, a question-and-answer service recently acquired by Google, may offer the closest comparison. But it generally routes questions to friends and friends of friends, instead of subject-matter experts across the entire Web.

The company has raised about $2.8 million from investors including First Round Capital, Charles River Ventures, Partech and DCM.

Posted via email from jaichoi's posterous

My Version of Momofuku Pork Buns

2010-05-26T15:13:00.001-07:00

PORK BELLY ANYONE?

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from jaichoi's posterous

From Zero to a Million Users - Dropbox and Xobni lessons learned

2010-05-18T13:06:00.001-07:00

Good little overview for any start-up looking to market your service and acquire users.

From Zero to a Million Users - Dropbox and Xobni lessons learned

View more presentations from Adam Smith.

What is a good artist(s) to listen to if you like Jack Johnson?

2010-05-14T15:54:00.001-07:00

I’m a big fan of Jack Johnson. So, I posed a question to PeerPong for recommendations to similar artists like Jack Johnson. Here’s a compiled list. Check out the rest of the answers here. Who’s your favorite from the list?

1. A dying animal in the forest

2. Charity

3. John Mayer

4. Donavon Frankenreiter and Matt Costa.

5. Andrew Bird

6. David Gray

7. Ben Harper

8. Mat Kearney

9. Jason Mraz

10. Mat Kearney

11. Morning Benders

11. Israel kamakawiwo'ole

12. M. Ward

13. Iron & Wine

14. Jason Reeves

15. Pete Murray

16. Alexi Murdoch

17. Ben Howard

18. Matt Costa

19. Matt Wertz

20. Nick Drake

Posted via email from jaichoi's posterous

Looking for a recommendation to a digital slr camera?

2010-05-14T13:27:00.001-07:00

Recent answers from a few PeerPong Experts. Check it out:

mchwang

We own a Nikon D90 and for the bang for the bucks, it's a good balance between price and quality. It's easy enough for a beginner yet support most of the features of a professional photographer. (It was even used in our wedding by our wedding photographer!) If this is your first DSLR, be aware you will be spending a lot more on getting good lenses than the camera itself.

Delete Anonymously

3 people recommended this

mpegcto

the new canon T2 is incredible and shoots 1080p 24/25 ( $850)... has most of the features of it big brother the d7 ($1800) which was just used to shoot the final episode of "house"..... to have a dslr tht can take great pictures and double as a great video camera is very nice

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3 people recommended this

Paul

Bodies:

Amateur to Semi Pro status -

D90

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d90.htm

This is the one I would recommend. It's about $800 body only. Can be a good starter camera if you're serious about it and will let you grow and learn and allow you to use the "pro" lenses. Any of the entry level Nikons D40, D60, etc, will not allow you to use the "pro" lenses (we'll get to those later).

Serious Amateur to Pro status -

D700

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d700.htm

This is a lot more expensive, but it has what photographers call a "full frame" sensor. Basically a sensor that is equivalent to 35mm film. (Also what the Canon 5D mark 3 that you were talking about the other time) More expensive ($2,300 body only), bulkier and heavier, but without a doubt a better camera than the D90. If you want to make us all drool, get this camera. But in my opinion, overkill.

read about full frame here: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/full-frame-advantage.htm

Uber Pro status -

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d3.htm

Basically for pros only. $5k

Lenses:

As I mentioned before, you want to spend your money on lenses instead of body if you have to decide on one. All the lenses I'm going to recommend are FX (full frame senor) lenses. They will work with the DX (non full frame sensor i.e. D90). You want to get the FX lenses because those are the ones that will be around still when the industry slowly becomes more FX oriented, but that is probably a long way down the road. Again though, I see lenses as an investment, but only the good lenses.

The Nikon trinity... if you have these three lenses, you will never need any other lenses ever again. (Although they are bulky and very very expensive)

Nikon 14-24mm AFS f/2.8 G ED

Your wide angle

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/14-24mm.htm

Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 G ED

The standard lens (this is the one I would get first... a must!)

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/24-70mm.htm

Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II

Longer zoom

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/70-200mm-ii.htm

For cheaper lenses, they are prime (non-zoom), but fast and super sharp at a fraction of the cost

Nikon 50mm 1.4 (a must!)

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/50mm-f14-afs.htm

I have the older version http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/5014af.htm

but anyone who has an slr has to have this

Nikon 85mm 1.4 D AF

Awesome portrait lens. Pros use this all the time.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/8514AF.htm

I posed the same question to my friend Eugene P. recently, and his response was awesome. Basically, there are two contending camps (Nikon vs. Canon). Both are great, but Eugene just happens to prefer Nikon. I'm going to post his email reply here: Bodies: Amateur to Semi Pro status - D90 http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d90.htm This is the one I would recommend. It's about $800 body only. Can be a good starter camera if you're serious about it and will let you grow and learn and allow you to use the "pro" lenses. Any of the entry level Nikons D40, D60, etc, will not allow you to use the "pro" lenses (we'll get to those later). Serious Amateur to Pro status - D700 http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d700.htm This is a lot more expensive, but it has what photographers call a "full frame" sensor. Basically a sensor that is equivalent to 35mm film. (Also what the Canon 5D mark 3 that you were talking about the other time) More expensive ($2,300 body only), bulkier and heavier, but without a doubt a better camera than the D90. If you want to make us all drool, get this camera. But in my opinion, overkill. read about full frame here: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/full-frame-advantage.htm Uber Pro status - D3 http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d3.htm Basically for pros only. $5k Lenses: As I mentioned before, you want to spend your money on lenses instead of body if you have to decide on one. All the lenses I'm going to recommend are FX (full frame senor) lenses. They will work with the DX (non full frame sensor i.e. D90). You want to get the FX lenses because those are the ones that will be around still when the industry slowly becomes more FX oriented, but that is probably a long way down the road. Again though, I see lenses as an investment, but only the good lenses. The Nikon trinity... if you have these three lenses, you will never need any other lenses ever again. (Although they are bulky and very very expensive) Nikon 14-24mm AFS f/2.8 G ED Your wide angle http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/14-24mm.htm Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 G ED The standard lens (this is the one I would get first... a must!) http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/24-70mm.htm Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II Longer zoom http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/70-200mm-ii.htm For cheaper lenses, they are prime (non-zoom), but fast and super sharp at a fraction of the cost Nikon 50mm 1.4 (a must!) http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/50mm-f14-afs.htm I have the older version http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/5014af.htm but anyone who has an slr has to have this Nikon 85mm 1.4 D AF Awesome portrait lens. Pros use this all the time. http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/8514AF.htm

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4 people recommended this

Posted via email from jaichoi's posterous

Shared Kidlandia Kingdom

2010-05-13T17:59:00.001-07:00

Shared Kidlandia Kingdom

Posted using ShareThis

Ribbit!

2010-05-13T16:51:00.001-07:00

Jabba?
Originally uploaded by bikeracer

2010-05-13T16:45:00.001-07:00

Venture Capital For A 5th Grader

View more presentations from Mark Davis.

Droid, the iPhone Killer

2009-10-19T12:27:00.001-07:00

future X Games superstar!

2009-09-21T10:43:00.001-07:00

EMBED-Power Wheels Kid Crashes Down a Hill - Watch more free videos

miniature city

2009-07-24T11:52:00.001-07:00

cool little video

Giant Odaiba Gundam 12

2009-06-30T11:59:00.001-07:00

Odaiba Gundam 12
Originally uploaded by kenleewrites

Wow, i grew up on these robots. only in japan, they are building a giant version. in the mood for transformers2 now.

Recycling

2009-06-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

korean police video

2009-06-08T00:10:00.000-07:00

this guy is in the wrong profession. he needs to try out for the show "so you think you can dance?"

the new toyota hybrid-

2009-05-15T14:38:00.001-07:00

Funny Pictures
Originally uploaded by nguyencuong107

Hello!

2009-05-13T13:47:00.001-07:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

listening to joshua radin - vegetable car

2009-05-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

my little monkey dylan

2009-04-30T15:55:00.001-07:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

Matcha Green Tea Powder

2009-04-30T15:18:00.001-07:00

Matcha Green Tea Powder
Originally uploaded by stickygooeychef

very cool picture! concentrated matcha. i'm on a green photo day today.

Cupcake burgers from Cities Cupcake

2009-04-30T15:15:00.001-07:00

Cupcake burgers from Cities Cupcake
Originally uploaded by Rachel from Cupcakes Take the Cake

this is fat free, and no calories! right....

Green tea matcha cupcakes from Food Mayhem

2009-04-30T15:14:00.001-07:00

Green tea matcha cupcakes from Food Mayhem
Originally uploaded by Rachel from Cupcakes Take the Cake

anything green tea is good for me!

photo collage of japanese food 365 days a year

2009-04-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

what a great video about japanese food! =)

SOME QUESTIONS CAN'T BE ANSWERED BY GOOGLE

2009-04-13T13:29:00.001-07:00

SOME QUESTIONS CAN'T BE ANSWERED BY GOOGLE
Originally uploaded by purplemarshallcornwitch

yes, and then there is PeerPong. =)

twitter twouble

2009-03-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

hilarious video of twittermania

Social Media : Whats Going On ?

2009-03-18T15:06:00.001-07:00

a primer of themes that resonate in social media.

Social Media : Whats Going On ?

View more presentations from Laurent François.

How To Monetize a Social Network: The Tencent Model

2009-03-09T22:36:00.000-07:00

great little post from Benchmark's Gurley. RT'd this on twitter. http://bit.ly/otbaL

How To Monetize a Social Network: MySpace and Facebook Should Follow TenCent

Posted on March 9, 2009. Filed under: Internet, Virtual Goods, advertising, casual games, social networking, video | Tags: advertising, Avatars, casual games, Digital Items, Facebook, MySpace, social network, social networking, Virtual Goods |

“Little Joe never once gave it away
Everybody had to pay and pay”
— Lou Reed, Walk on the Wild Side

The consensus seems to be that social networks have a monetization problem. On this topic, both the leading technology industry blogs and the world’s top news organizations agree. The problem is not that these sites have no revenue. I “guesstimate” that MySpace and Facebook have annual revenue run-rates of approximately $650mm and $450mm respectively - highly reputable numbers. The perceived problem relates directly to revenue per user or page view, as these are two of the most heavily trafficked sites on the Internet. As a comparison, other companies with similar usage, like Yahoo, are doing $7.2B in annual revenues. When reporting earnings from Q4 of 2007, Google also opined on the difficulty in monetizing social networking sites. Sergey Brin noted, “I don’t think we have the killer best way to monetize social networks yet.”

There is ample historical data that proves web sites like these are inherently difficult to monetize. Most other online communication products have had similar struggles. Two great examples of this: the many leading players in the Instant Messaging (IM) space (AIM, ICQ, Yahoo Messenger) and the leading free email sites (Hotmail, Yahoo Mail). These products/sites have always had some of the lowest eCPMs on the Internet. Many speculate that this is because the user is so heavily engaged in using the product (i.e. communicating) that they are unlikely to be distracted by or engaged in an advertising message. Another corollary to this point is that other Internet properties offer more direct purchasing intent based on the way they aggregate users. Example here include TheKnot for brides, TripAdvisor for travelers, and even Google, where the search query highly delineates the direct intent of the user, allowing the advertiser to find users already in the purchasing funnel. All of these properties have incredibly high eCPMs.

Despite this conundrum, there is a solution. Luckily for these U.S. based companies, a Chinese company named TenCent has already paved the way by identifying the optimal way to monetize this type of product. For those that don’t know, TenCent is the owner of the leading IM franchise in China – a product known affectionately as “QQ”. TenCent was founded in 1998, has 355 million users, US$1.2B in annual revenues, and a US$11.2B market capitalization. The stock chart for the past 5 years is included in the adjacent graphic. The two primary drivers of revenue for TenCent are digital items and casual game packages and upgrades. Advertising, which doesn’t work well on U.S. products like IM, doesn’t work well in China either. Advertising revenues for TenCent represent only 12% of total revenues. Recently, I asked a leading Internet analyst which company in China is best positioned above all others? He quickly replied “TenCent”.

The spreadsheet below tries to highlight the monetization differences between TenCent, Facebook, and MySpace. For each we have taken our best guess at monthly unique users, monthly page views, monthly revenues, and advertising as a percentage of revenue. For TenCent, these numbers are published. For MySpace and Facebook we used the best information we could find and/or infer. We then calculated effective CPM (eCPM), revenue/user, and advertising revenue per user. Lastly, we show these same numbers for TenCent with a cost of living adjustment. In China the cell-phone ARPU (average revenue per user) is about 1/5th of that here in the U.S., so adjusting these numbers up by 5X gives you a much better number for comparing directly with the U.S. properties.

The takeaways are quite straightforward. The amount of advertising revenue on an adjusted basis at TenCent ($2.08) is quite similar to Facebook ($2.44) and MySpace ($5.85) (some may wonder why MySpace ad revenue per user is higher than Facebook – many believe they are more aggressive with ad placement and insertion). The key difference in this comparison is obviously the revenue TenCent generates with business models that are largely absent on both Facebook and MySpace — digital items and casual game revenue. For every $2 of adjusted advertising revenue TenCent has per user per year, they generate $17 in other revenue streams. Benchmark Capital has invested in two private companies in the social/virtual world space – SecondLife and Gaia Online. In both cases, the company revenues are significant, and in both cases advertising is not the leading business model.

More supportive data comes from the three leading social network players in Japan. Believe or not, all three companies are already public and trade on different segments of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. You will see in the same spreadsheet that Mixi, DENA (Mobage-town), and GREE have market capitalizations of US$511MM, US$1.5B, and US$1.1B respectively, and are all very profitable. DENA and GREE, which interestingly are more popular on mobile than on the PC, have invested heavily in these two magic business models (casual games and digital items) and have revenues per user that dwarf that of Facebook or Myspace (DENA is 10X Facebook on this metric!). As a result, these companies sport market capitalizations per user of over $100. Here is the big punch line: Mixi is the actual leader in the market in terms of users, is the clear leader on the PC, is the company that most resembles U.S.-based social networks, and has remained focused on advertising as its core revenue steam. Not surprisingly, their revenues per user are a fraction of DENA and GREE, as is their market capitalization.

At a recent public investor conference in San Francisco, Alexander Tamas, an executive associated with the leading free email service in Russia (Mail.ru), noted that his company felt that the U.S. companies have little understanding on how to monetize a product like Mail.ru, and that they were taking their clues from TenCent in China. Most of the public market investors in the audience, who have witnessed TenCent, DENA, and GREE’s remarkable success, nodded in agreement. Gaia also presented at this conference and the crowd was standing-room only. The questions from the audience made it even more apparent that the buy-side investors have a strong appreciation for the digital item business model.

It is peculiar to have a situation where the NY-centric public market investors are more open minded to a new business model prior to the entrepreneurial executives on the west coast, but that is clearly the case here. It is not hard to see why investors like this model. When Pony Ma, the founder of TenCent, first described the digital item model to me five years ago I was blown away. He was selling virtual clothes and accessories for digital avatars that represented his users online. Think about it; this is a beautifully high gross margin business with very low marginal costs. He even told me he thought digital shirts should deteriorate over time like real ones. Pure genius.

It is my perception that most U.S. executives have trouble conceiving and believing in the digital item model. For starters, they simply think it’s strange. “Why would someone buy clothes for their virtual avatar? That’s weird.” What they fail to realize is that U.S. consumers pay for “virtual” things all the time. In the attached picture you see a pair of expensive Chanel sunglasses that retail for $329. If you removed the Chanel logo from them, and offered them for $50 cheaper, you could not sell a pair. Not one. Why? People are buying an image that they want to project about themselves. Without the logo, they fail to make that statement. The same is true for watches, clothes, cars, sodas, beers, cell phones, and many more items. People care greatly about how they are perceived, and are willing to part with big bucks to achieve it. Digital items are merely the same phenomenon online.

Another reason that digital items are a great monetization model for a social network is congruence of fit with the core activity of the site. We already discussed how for TheKnot, the decision to come to the site is very consistent with identifying exactly “who” the advertiser is trying to reach and at “what time”. For social networking sites, one of the key “experiences” of users is self-expression. Think about it: is the Facebook news feed more about the reader or the poster? Isn’t someone’s MySpace page all about self-expression? If people are there to represent and express themselves, shouldn’t you build a business model that charges for the ability to better differentiate oneself? Shouldn’t you also charge for ego-gratification on a sliding scale (the bigger the ego, the more the charge)?

These same executives like to believe that digital items are distinctly an Asian phenomenon – a convenient theory will prove to be a dangerous rationalization over time. Here are some numbers from a U.S. corporation. As I mentioned we are investors in LindenLab and their leading vitual world, SecondLife. In SecondLife, the users are the ones that get to sell digital goods (rather than the company as in TenCent’s case). Linden makes its money providing the platform services underneath this powerful economy. At this moment in time, the economy inside of SecondLife – the amount of digital goods and services – sold each year between SecondLife users, is over a US$450mm annual run rate. Of this, developers are realizing over $100MM in real profits extracted from Linden’s in-world to real-world currency exchange. And keep in mind that SecondLife has much fewer users than either Facebook or MySpace.

Another interesting data point exists in the Facebook and MySpace application developer programs. Best I can tell, the startups that are generating the most revenue on top of either platform are either selling digital items/avatars, or providing casual game packages — the exact two business models that are the drivers at TenCent, DENA, and GREE. This is hardly a coincidence.

Despite these arguments and the fact that others have also been arguing this same point, it would be surprising if either MySpace or Facebook move in this direction. First, they would need to have executive buy-in, which is not obvious at this point. Second, they would need to hire people with experience in executing against this model. Like any other endeavor in life, there are right ways and wrong ways to exploit these models, and there are already many experts in the field of digital items and casual games. Lastly, they would need to prioritize this direction over other programs. Currently, MySpace seems extremely focused on music, and Facebook on user-based communications.

The good news is that if they ever get around to deploying these models, they will not have trouble convincing Wall Street it’s a good idea – Wall Street is already there.

More Information:

Wikipedia on TenCent
TenCent IR About Page
TenCent IR Investor Intro
Stock Information and Company Financials on Mixi
Stock Information and Company Financials on DENA
Stock Information and Company Financials on GREE

In addition to these, most of the large US investment banks are covering TenCent, DENA, and GREE with English based research. If you have a relationship with one of these banks, you can likely ask for their reports.

Widgets 101 - The Web Beyond The Page

2009-03-09T15:41:00.001-07:00

some interesting social datapoints.

Widgets 101 - The Web Beyond The Page

View more presentations from Marta Strickland. (tags: gadgets widgets)

The Micro-Sociology of Networks

2009-03-09T14:38:00.001-07:00

eveerything is going micro

The Micro-Sociology of Networks

View more presentations from David Armano. (tags: behavior human)

Micro-Interactions in a 2.0 World (v2)

2009-03-09T14:35:00.001-07:00

Micro-Social

Micro-Interactions in a 2.0 World (v2)

View more presentations from David Armano. (tags: web 2.0)

Night View from the Park Hyatt Tokyo

2009-03-09T12:16:00.001-07:00

Night View from the Park Hyatt Tokyo
Originally uploaded by s.yume

i love this view from park hyatt. shinjuku. i miss tokyo.

Shibuya in Tokyo Urban Area in Japan at 28-01

2009-03-09T12:13:00.001-07:00

Shibuya in Tokyo Urban Area in Japan at 28-01
Originally uploaded by Matthias Wagner

i still get a kick at $20 strawberries in tokyo-

mcheaven

2009-03-09T12:10:00.001-07:00

Thou shalt have no other food before me.
Originally uploaded by Frengo2.0

for my wife, who loves the classic biggy mac! =)

Mosaic monday: cute food

2009-03-09T12:00:00.001-07:00

Mosaic monday: cute food
Originally uploaded by she.likes.cute

wow, this is real food. very japanese anime-like. fun stuff.

Think, food.

2009-03-09T11:58:00.001-07:00

Think, food.
Originally uploaded by JM Rocher

yes i do constantly...do you?

i've stopped blogging...well not really

2009-03-09T11:56:00.001-07:00

Kicking back in Bora Bora
Originally uploaded by jai_choi

well, not really, busy schedules require multi-tasking, thus twitter solves many of my time constraint challenges with short bursts of input on what is going on in life around me. more to come. fun, fun, fun...

pic...need to get back here someday.

dylan's music video

2008-06-01T00:41:00.001-07:00

Jaxtr

2007-09-14T10:45:00.001-07:00

Social Music Site Worth Noting...

2007-08-12T12:22:00.001-07:00

keep an eye out for an upstart company called QBox out of Korea looking to become the next del.icio.us for music on the Internet. they will launch the US service sometime in early Q4.

the service has some interesting discovery features similar to stumbleupon. they have built a plug-in that lets you dynamically search, identify, hyperlink and manage the free music available in Facebook, Myspace, blogs, and any other distribution network, website that carries free music. they are raising a first round of venture financing reincorporating the company in US. interesting concept. interesting to see how the company and music labels will respond on the legal issues. i am starting to see a few companies and labels start to explore free music, p2p as a possible business model. lala is another music service that may be another music service promoting free music on the Internet

Branding and Marketing Via Avatars and Virtual Worlds

2007-05-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

Some random thoughts on avatars and the marketing potential...
What is the opportunity for the advertiser in Second Life? You are essentially interacting with a very engaged audience group.

Whom do you target? The creator of the Avatar or the "shadow" consumer(Avatar), the one able to influence the creator's purchase of real world products and make its own real world purchases in the virtual world. The virtual medium offers consumer insights into the creator's hidden tastes.

Data Points
Over 10M people spend an average of $10-$15 per month on role playing environments. Users spend in upwards of 40 hours per week in these environments. People have created over 7M+ avatars. And, as technology improves, virtual worlds may very well leapfrog other traditional forms of entertainment - Film, TV, etc. Even movies are taking form in these virtual environments, check out www.machinima, where avatars are taking on scripted roles.

Consumer Rationale
People want to participate in their interactions and entertainment, they want to have control of their surroundings, a fundamental premise behind their online/offline experience. Avatars allow a consumer to experience a deep-seated desire to be someone or something else, try out alternative identities or even project a private quality of themselves. Its providing tools and technology to tap into your imagination and creative.

Virtual worlds provide an opportunity for a brand or advertiser to have a sustained relationship and engagement, not just a click-thru, which could significantly improve the advertising/sponsorship dollars associated.

Some well known or emerging Virtual Worlds:
Second Life
There.com
Entropia Universe
Active Worlds
Habbo Hotel
Hive7
Cyworld
Sims Online

Examples of Brands in Virtual Worlds:
Stagecoach Island (Wells Fargo) - Second Life
Coke Studios - 8 million registered users, 40 minutes per session
Disney - Virtual Magic Kingdom
BMW(Mini Cooper in Kart Rider) - Nexon
American Apparel - Virtual store in Second Life
DaimlerChrysler - Mokikids (Virtual world)

A Marketers Dream
Virtual worlds could be the ultimate experiential economy, people projecting aspects of their life online. Lots of market research to be learned in virtual world, how users interact with a certain product, travel destination, fashion offer, etc. A level of real consumer segmentation and market learnings possible in the virtual.

Avatars are becoming vehicles for promotion, datamining, and marketing. Soon, you will see users and companies coining the term "advertars" as the next evolution of this new marketing vehicle.

To be continued...

Who Will Be The Next 2.0 Evite?

2007-03-25T00:26:00.000-07:00

i've been tracking the a few of the new online event management services out there:
1. Renkoo
2. MyPunchBowl
3. Skobee
4. Socializr

Just as Yelp is working on eating away at CitySearch, some of these new event services will start getting noticed against Evite. Its a matter of time...

Acceptable.TV - The Bubbling Up Effect of WebTV shows

2007-03-24T15:46:00.000-07:00

Check out Acceptable.TV either at the website or on VH-1. It falls in the ever popular category of participatory, democratized media. Acceptable debuts 5 weekly 3-minute shorts created by the user community and Acceptable's own studio and indie production groups. The shows are pretty amusing, the flavor is definitely more irreverent, borderline 'acceptable' hence the name, but in the same genre of the short form documentary style of CurrentTV, Al Gore's YouTube pet project. Acceptable allows the community to vote and submit shows for distribution. 2 out of 5 shows voted most popular return the following week with a new short form episode, competing to stay on-air with an additional group of shorts. Niche media and programming at its finest. Check out the video Who Farted?, a funny parody on the TV show, Deal or No Deal.

Mainstream media networks is catching on that short form video is creating new avenues of engagement with their viewership. The flood gates are about to open for longtail media on TV and Web. Mobile and portable media devices will eat this content up! Michael Eisner's investment firm has funded WebTV show studio Vuguru and I'm sure you will see more professional YouTuber production houses in the works in hollywood and througout all of the film schools and indie channels. Calling all new WebTV production houses, would love to talk to you.

Looking for Long Tail Video Networks

2007-03-15T22:28:00.001-07:00

I'm looking for the next upstart consumer media/video sites with original programming via editorial. Some companies I am tracking. Have an idea to bring value across the sites:
1. Heavy.com
2. CurrentTV
3. Code.TV
4. Real Girls Media
5. PopSugar
6. RipeTV
7. Next New Network – Micro-site video networks
8. Shiny Media
9. Psychopedia
10. KushTV
11. ConcertTV
12. Tremor Networks
13. HavocTV
14. Desihits

Bullish on anything 3-D - Future of Internet

2007-03-14T23:15:00.000-07:00

I've continued to notice the next wave of the Internet. 3D application environments will change the Internet landscape...watch the following companies:
- There.com- Secondlife
- IMVU
- Areae
- Tri-D Communications(Puppyred.com) - Korea-based
- Doppelganger
- iBloks

Some of these 3D environments are now starting to figure out microtransaction/digital marketplace economics a la famous from Korea online game/social network companies such as Nexon, NHN, Cyworld. In-virtual environment online ad insertion will come soon.

More to come...

Measuring the Internet

2007-02-22T20:18:00.000-08:00

some interesting comparisons on the latest internet site measurement companies. keep an eye on quantcast.

Measuring traffic? Alexa, Compete, Quantcast all have problemsBy Matt Marshall 02.8.07 12:21 PM

Ever wonder how much traffic a Web site is getting?

We’ve already talked about how tough it is to get accurate stats. Alexa, the favorite of many people because it offers lots of easy-to-get free data, is flawed. And new competitors, such as Compete and Quantcast, which claim to offer something better, also have drawbacks.

Traffick has a good summary of the providers, but still leaves you banging your head against the wall in frustration that there’s no easy, reliable way to do this:

Based on the evidence I’ve sifted through, there’s not a shred to suggest that Compete.com is better [than Alexa.com] at this stage, and some to suggest it’s actually worse. That shouldn’t be surprising. Going strictly on toolbar installs, the upstart service is bound to have less data, and less representative data. They try to augment that with “ISP relationships,” I gather, a practice which is quite old and generally not well explained. (Are Hitwise’s ISP relationships better than Compete’s? Are Wordtracker’s better than KeyWord Discovery’s? Does anyone do anything transparently in this industry?)

The CEO of Quantcast, Konrad Feldman, was good enough to talk to me a couple of months ago. I’m still uncertain about where the service is headed, given its newness. Essentially they attempt to combine various data sources to arrive at more accurate rankings, including demographic information for a site. To aid this, sites are encouraged to download some javascript code. Interesting, but no different from the scores of competing analytics services hoping to do the same. Who can get every site or even a lot of sites to install that code?

_____________________________________________________________________________________
CONTINUED...

Traffic measuring continued: Why Compete doesn’t work, and why Quantcast doesBy Matt Marshall 02.22.07 3:30 PM

It sucks when your Web site’s traffic isn’t being measured correctly.

It also sucks when you’re trying to measure the significance of someone else’s site, and are getting conflicting signals.

Here’s what we’ve learned over the past few days, after our initial piece on the problems of Alexa, Quantcast and Compete, all sites that independently verify how much traffic a site is getting.

We’ve learned that if a measuring company doesn’t have a tracking pixel directly on the Web site it is tracking, the numbers are extremely unreliable.

This may be nothing new for insiders, but the public data provided by Alexa, Quantcast and Compete can be misleading for the rest of us, because they purport to be accurate. In fact, that data is almost all collected from the surfing patterns of a very small sample of people. Those people are not going to be surfing certain niche sites as much as the general population.

Take the example of Streetfire, a very popular video site for car enthusiasts. Until our initial post, co-founder Adam Bruce was somewhat content with Google analytics, which showed his site had three million unique visitors a month (he let us login to his Google account to confirm). This matched information of his server logs, which Google also manages, and it was compatible with the ad server tracker from Adjuggler. Of course, this was all internal information.

Outsiders had access to Alexa (see its Streetfire rankings), a free site measuring tool, but Bruce believes most people recognize Alexa’s shortcomings, so he isn’t taking Alexa too seriously. Then along came two more sites, Quantcast and Compete, saying they can do a better job than Alexa. After we pointed to them in our post, Bruce checked them, but he found they were both showing his traffic at about an eighth to a twelfth of his internal numbes. Alarmed, and filled with renewed doubt about the reliability of his internal numbers (because server logs can be unreliable too, as can Google Analytics), he called up Compete and Quantcast to find out more.

Notably, both companies cooperated. Quantcast responded by offering him a tracking pixel, to be put directly on his site. This opened Quantcast’s eyes: It saw Streetfire’s traffic was indeed much higher than it had estimated, and told Bruce it will readjust its numbers after a full month’s reading. Compete, however said it couldn’t deliver a tracking pixel — in part, it said, because Nielsen/Netratings owned patents on this sort of thing, and that Quantcast can get away with it because it is too small to sue. (Although, we’re not certain whether Netratings really does have a patent on this).

To be fair, Compete does have impressive data: It says it gets data from the surfing habits of two million people, which is more than comScore, Hitwise, Nielsen and Alexa. It takes extensive measures to ensure data is diverse — gathering it from multiple Internet and application service providers, panels and its own toolbar — all this is more than can be said for the others. Compete has an impressive list of testimonials, but read through the list — most of those people aren’t experts, and even if they are, our hunch is that they wrote positively about Compete, just like we did initially, because it looked so much better than what Alexa was offering.

All these strengths of Compete, however, serve to underscore our point. If it really has such a industry-leading sampling, why did it go so horribly wrong with Streetfire? We called up Compete, and asked. We talked with product manager Jay Meattle, and Stephen DiMarco, who is in charge of “emerging markets.” They said they went back to their panel sampling and studied why a video site like Streetfire would be undercounted. Their analysis found video-oriented sites like Streetfire were being undercounted by a factor of four. Adjusting their numbers, that put Streetfire’s monthly uniques back up to 1 million or so, but not at the 3 million the other trackers were showing. In other words, it is still undercounting — and it came only after Streetfire requested a revision.

This is particularly worrying because Streetfire is a major site. If a car enthusiast site of 3 million uniques is being undercounted by the biggest objective panel out there, then well, the rest of us little chickens are hosed. The Compete guys told us they are more interested in serving general consumer sites (their main customers), and don’t really care about niche sites like say, VentureBeat ;). “Our clients are big consumer marketers,” they said. Fair enough. They take Streetfire seriously, they said, because it is a big site. But that also leaves us with this hunch: Most consumer sites are overcounted by Compete. Both may have an interest in that being the case.

Meanwhile, Adam Bruce, of Streetfire, is relieved because Quantcast’s tracker, at least, vindicated him. He can still trust his internal numbers. Bruce’s conclusion: Quantcast offers the best of both worlds. It offers you all the third-party data it can get (see screenshot at bottom; it shows gender, geographic and other data that Bruce says coincides with his sense of his readers), but if you ask it to, it will put a tracker on your site, to verify. Now, not all sites will allow Quantcast do to this. But its livelihood is on the line, like Streetfire’s small team’s is, it makes sense.

Conclusion: When you go to Quantcast for data on a site, be sure it has a tracking pixel on the site before drawing conclusions.

Finally, a note on Site Meter. Bruce said that company’s stats make sense since they are in line with his other sources, though Site Meter doesn’t report unique visitors, just visits.

SpyMac, Mac Enthusiast Community

2007-02-17T23:05:00.000-08:00

i've been reading a blurb on Spymac, the world's largest mac enthusiast community, turned growing media upload community, where you can upload, embed, store, share and do just about anything else with content. i've heard projected '07 revenues are $120M!!! they essentially share ad revenues with the community based on content uploaded, viewed, voted on, etc. currently 1M+ subs today and growing. you can also share pictures, movies and music and embed them wherever you'd like on your myspace, facebook, etc.

keep an eye out on this site and its parent company leapfrog. you'll be hearing more about them.

MySpace Widget Builders - State of Consumer Facing Internet Companies Today

2006-08-16T16:52:00.000-07:00

interesting perspective from david stern at clearstone venture partners on consumer facing Internet companies and how to assess the MySpace ecosystem.

Clearstone's David Stern: "Will MySpace eat its young?"
David SternDavid Stern is a venture partner at Clearstone Venture Partners. We asked him to contribute a "guest post" on the MySpace ecosystem, given his background as founder of M Networks, which operated within that other great ecosystem: eBay's. His firm is investing in consumer-oriented Internet companies. Here's his bio.
Matt writes about VCs "going ape over" MySpace. At Clearstone, we're undoubtedly investing in companies that have MySpace "widgets," because almost every consumer facing internet company these days has a widget tactic as a central part of its customer acquisition strategy. But it got me thinking about the MySpace ecosystem generally, especially having had experience with M Networks and a very powerful ecosystem fostered by eBay (yes, "scalded" is a good term to describe the experience!).
Two related questions popped up as I thought about this: (1) What kind of ecosystem is MySpace really building?; and (2) Can any company that is a part of this ecosystem ever make a venture return?
The eBay ecosystem provides some very good precedents. If you think about eBay as a commerce driven platform or marketplace, they've had a very clear mandate and ability to foster an ecosystem through an aggressive outreach to development partners that support their mandate, e.g. building a community around transactions. If you think of MySpace, which is fundamentally a communications platform, the mandate around fostering an ecosystem is very different and arguably unidentifiable from the outside if you look at its results, e.g. the companies currently leveraging MySpace.
Everything that eBay does in their ecosystem and developer networks supports transactions and growing eBay revenues. And they do this in a very measured way, with very stringent rules that certainly can limit a company's growth potential. Much like the sun, companies are drawn to it, but get too close to it, and you can get burned. The eBay ecosystem is littered with companies, though, that have thrived for a time, but which were reined in any time they got too much traction or too close to the eBay customer. I can recall on many occasions when an M Networks partner company CEO voiced their concern over eBay's investments in similar companies, eBay's development of similar products or services or eBay's mysteriously breaking API's that forced a feeder company to scramble. Having been an early backer of PayPal, our firm should know.
I don't believe MySpace has shown investors a clear view of whether a company in it or dependent on it can every make a venture return. Perhaps that will change as new Fox management takes over at MySpace, but to date, our companies and certainly companies that I've spent time with who have been dealing with MySpace, aren't seeing a clear strategy. And again, it's not like we aren't seeing one or two of these new companies per week! (I believe "MySpace Widget" should be added to the list of obligatory buzzwords for pitching a venture firm!) But again, the reason these companies are out there is a result purely of user acquisition economics. I believe every consumer company has to be looking to MySpace to acquire customers if their users are in the MySpace demographic, especially because to date it has been fairly easy and very successful.
As an investor, there are a lot of risks looking at MySpace "enablers" given the state of the ecosystem. There are enough other risks in funding a company that one should not have to worry whether MySpace will embrace or curtail success of its feeder companies. Today, there are no commonalities among companies leveraging MySpace, except for demographic targeted and using it as a customer acquisition strategy. If MySpace starts creating a more aggressive developer program around either monetization or community building themes (which arguably they have no need to do), it will be very interesting to see whether any company that is playing the "monetization tool for MySpace" game can deliver a venture return given the squeeze MySpace will put on it.
As a result, I'm very cautious about any company that is playing off its success or plan to siphon off 1-4M MySpace users, but VERY receptive to anyone who along with that, has tactically proven in the past that they have the online marketing chops to use MySpace as one arrow in their quiver of online marketing tactics along with many others, e.g. leveraging affiliate networks, creating viral campaigns, etc. If you are one of those trying to build a global consumer internet company on the back of some battle-hardened tactical marketing talent, I'd love to hear your vision.

Yahoo Still #1, MySpace Close Behind

2006-08-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

The online advertising foot race...

Yahoo Still #1, MySpace Close Behind
Posted: 09 Aug 2006 15:28:28 +0000
Yahoo was right to get flustered when MySpace was declared the Net’s new #1. But if MySpace keeps growing at its current rate, Yahoo might have to face the music soon enough. ComScore’s July numbers are out and UBS takes a look: Yahoo is still the top site for page views and unique vistors, though MySpace is battling for a close #2 for total page views.
Yahoo sites had 37.7 billion page views for July, down 5% from the previous month and down 8% from the previous year. MySpace had 30.9 billion page views and grew 2% from the previous month and a massive 233% from the previous year. (Update: We used million instead of billion pageviews. Sorry about that.)
UBS says Yahoo’s drop is in part due to “summer softness” but let’s say if Yahoo dropped 5% every month and MySpace grew 2% every month, it would only be sometime later this year before MySpace actually does surpass Yahoo in terms of page views. Not that this downward trend is going to continue for Yahoo! Also, how come there was no summer softness at MySpace or Google?
Google still grew pretty fast, with 10.3 billion page views in July, up 1% from the month earlier and 69% up from the year before. And grew well on unique visitors too, with 103.9 million

Lesson in Branding and Packaging

2006-08-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

In my appreciation and search for the next greatest food/restaurant franchise, I've been keeping tabs on a successful upstart bakery concept called Sprinkles Cupcakes started in the humble confines of Beverly Hills! Basically, if anyone has heard of Magnolia Bakery, the Bakery that started cupcake craze in New York, then you are seeing the west coast version come to life at Sprinkles.

I'm less of a cupcake fan or any cake for that matter so I wouldn't say I am much of a cupcake aficionado. My wife, btw, swears by their Red Velvet Cupcakes! The interesting thing to take away about Sprinkles and my observations about consumer/retail businesses:
1. Product must stand on its own - These guys only do cupcakes and nothing else, granted like 20+ different flavors but they do cupcakes and for the most part, they do it well.
2 Packaging is everything - Its the details, from the design of the modern white, oak, brown architected store, the boxes with the cute Sprinkles stickers, the cool looking American Apparel company employee T-Shirts, the presentation of cupcakes in the storefront window that comes straight out of a Martha Stewart magazine, and the list goes on.
3. PR/Marketing - In this particular case, it does go a long way initially. If you know any media and rock stars, at least in Los Angeles, have them be your advertising. =) Katie Holmes and Tyra Banks swear by the Chai Latte cupcake! I think one of the founders comes from Omnimedia, Martha Stewart's magazine. But, in Los Angeles, this sells.
4. Location - You can either open up a store with pre-existing foot traffic or have the traffic come to you. I don't recommend the latter unless you are confident your product will drive traffic in less than optimal locations. But then again, bidding for your first location next against another Starbucks may be somewhat challenging. I have seen the trendy Pinkberry Yogurt (another one of my wife's favorites!) located in a random residential location in West Hollywood, where traffic comes to them essentially. They have lines stretching out the front door for 25+ minutes. This one is an anomaly to me but they share a similar trait with Sprinkles, packaging with a solid product sells. BTW, I have to note that Red Mango(a yogurt shop started in Korea with over 100+) was the original creator of Pinkberry yogurt! My friend was an investor in Red Mango. =) So just want to keep the record straight for those who think Pinkberry came from outer space! =)

Asia spin: Will this work in Asia? Perhaps in Japan and Korea. Heck, if Cold Stone and Baskin Robbins can enter Japan and Korea, why can't Sprinkles. Anything new, trendy, and American, if marketed properly tends to pick up initial traffic in Tokyo and Seoul. But, Asian desserts tend to be lighter in flavor and not as sweet relative to US. This could be a differentiator for them or could just fall flat on its you know what.

Some pics.

FeedBurner Networks - Are you poaching your RSS subs or monetizing?

2006-08-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

Alot of commentary this past week about Feedburner Networks. These are essentially a collection of sites on a single topic that are using FeedBurner to manage their RSS feed. The objective seems to be similar to a number of sell-side ad networks like Federated Media, and Adify, bring together a targeted and high quality group of publishers for purchasing power to advertisers. Feedburner essentially is aggregating their publisher base via RSS. I recently read a good post by Brad Feld and George Nimeh on what I call the 'disaggregated stitching of like-minded publishers'(which I loosely define as self-expressive online web mavens). I do believe we are in the early innings of new self forming/organizing media networks developing. Essentially, companies have varying approaches to bring together publishers. This is very exciting and encouraging to see. I'm also fascinated by the impact that the international markets will have especially Asia and how quickly this network of networks effect probably has already traveled.

BTW, I met an executive recently at a start-up that was building a hobbyist site targeting dog owners. I noticed he is part of a network of publishers targeting the dog industry. There are lots of dog owners! Opportunity is there. Very cool.

Technorati Data Shows Blogosphere Growing Exponentially...A New Medium to Be Reckoned With

2006-08-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

Interesting data from Technorati, the blog search/tracking site. Basically, supporting data that shows the massive growth of blogs. Here is the link. A quick summary at the high level:

1. 50 Million Blogs and Counting
2. Blogosphere over 100 times bigger than it was just 3 years ago
3. The blogosphere is doubling in size every 200 days, or about once every 6 and a half months
4. From January 2004 until July 2006, almost two and a half years later, the number of blogs that Technorati tracks has continued to double every 5-7 months
5. As of July 2006, about 175,000 new weblogs were created each day, which means that on average, there are more than 2 blogs created each second of each day
6. The total posting volume of the blogosphere continues to rise, showing about 1.6 Million postings per day, or about 18.6 posts per second. This is about double the volume of about a year ago

Interesting to see some of the most influential weblogs are being treated in much the same way as traditional MSM, as measured by the number of bloggers who are linking to them, as shown in the chart below:

Two Giants Coming Together: Google to Pay MySpace $900M to Be Exclusive Search Partner

2006-08-07T14:15:00.000-07:00

This announcement finally brings together two of the largest search and Internet properties together. In short, Google will pay guaranteed minimum payments based on expected revenues from search placements on MySpace. This certainly adds another blow to Yahoo after Google's $1 billion deal to provide searches on AOL. AOL also recently announced another corporate repositioning to offer free Internet services and content. AOL's corporate shift should also play in Google's favor. You can link to it here or read it below:

Fox Interactive Media Enters Into Landmark Agreement with Google Inc.

Multi-Year Pact Calls for Google to Provide Search and Advertising Across Fox Interactive Media's Growing Online Network Including the MySpace Community
MOUNTAIN VIEW and LOS ANGELES, Calif., August 7, 2006 - News Corporation's Fox Interactive Media and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced a multi-year search technology and services agreement whereby Google will be the exclusive search and keyword targeted advertising sales provider for Fox Interactive Media's growing network of web properties including MySpace.com (http://www.myspace.com).
The agreement calls for Google to power web, vertical and site specific search for MySpace.com and the majority of Fox Interactive Media properties. Google will be the exclusive provider of text-based advertising and keyword targeted ads through its AdSense program, for inventory on Fox Interactive Media's network. Google will also have a right of first refusal on display advertising sold through third parties on Fox Interactive Media's network.
The integration of Google's services including consistent search navigation across Fox Interactive Media's network of properties is slated to begin in the fourth quarter 2006 and will provide users with access to Google's industry leading search capabilities as well as text and display advertising from its global advertiser base.
Under the terms of the agreement, Google will be obligated to make guaranteed minimum revenue share payments to Fox Interactive Media of $900 million based on Fox achieving certain traffic and other commitments. These guaranteed minimum revenue share payments are expected to be made over the period beginning in the first quarter of 2007 and ending in the second quarter of 2010.
"Our partnership with Google underscores News Corp's continued evolution to become a powerful force in the digital media marketplace. To have come this far and gained this much momentum in just over a year is truly remarkable," said Peter Chernin, President and Chief Operating Officer of News Corporation. "This is an exciting time in our history as a forward thinking media company and this is just the first of many steps we plan to take with Google. We look forward to expanding our relationship into many new areas over years to come."
"We believe that our innovative technologies will be of real benefit to Fox Interactive Media's growing number of users," said Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Google. "MySpace.com is a widely acknowledged leader in user-generated content and incorporating search and advertising furthers our mission of making the world's information universally accessible and useful."
"This deal is the next step in our evolution as a significant interactive player," said Ross Levinsohn, President of Fox Interactive Media. "Forming a strategic partnership with one of the most innovative companies in the world to expand our business together, monetize our platforms effectively and leverage our combined scale will provide substantial growth for our businesses."
"This agreement demonstrates our commitment to bring the same innovation to monetizing user-generated content that we brought to search advertising," said Omid Kordestani, Senior Vice President, Global Sales & Business Development of Google. "We look forward to other opportunities to partner with News Corp. to the benefit of its community."
In addition to MySpace.com (http://www.myspace.com), Fox Interactive Media properties that will benefit from the Google integration include top ranked online videogame and entertainment site IGN (http://www.ign.com), dynamic collegiate and pro sports network Scout.com (http://www.scout.com), leading site for movie lovers Rottentomatoes.com (http://www.rottentomatoes.com), popular men's lifestyle site AskMen.com (http://www.askmen.com); as well as Gamespy.com (http://www.gamespy.com), Gamespyarcade.com (http://www.gamespyarcade.com), Fileplanet.com (http://www.fileplanet.com), Direct2drive.com (http://www.direct2drive.com), Teamxbox.com (http://www.teamxbox.com), 3dgamers.com (http://www.3dgamers.com), Gamestat.com (http://www.gamestat.com), Cheatscodesguides.com (http://www.cheatcodesguides.com) and Gamermetrics.com (http://www.gamermetrics.com).
About Google: Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google's targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.google.com/.
About Fox Interactive Media: A division of News Corp. (NWS and NWS.A), Fox Interactive Media (FIM) is an integrated network of sites offering socially rich media experiences centered on entertainment, news, information and self-expression. The company's network includes Internet assets from News Corp., including the highly trafficked Foxsports.com (http://www.foxspports.com), Americanidol.com (http://www.americanidol.com) and Fox.com (http://www.fox.com). FIM also owns and operates such category leaders as MySpace.com (http://www.myspace.com), the number one social networking site on the Web; Scout.com (http://www.scout.com), a dynamic collegiate and pro sports network; and IGN Entertainment (http://www.ign.com), a network of leading gaming and entertainment sites including men's lifestyle site AskMen (http://www.askmen.com) and premier destination for movie-goers Rotten Tomatoes (http://www.rottentomatoes.com) among others.
***NOTE: A conference call for financial analysts and members of the press only will occur at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time / 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time today.***
The Teleconference Dial-In Numbers are:
United States: (800) 230-1059
International: (612) 332-0107
Passcode: NEWS
For a webcast of the call, please visit Google's Investor Relations web site at: http://investor.google.com/webcast.html.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTSThis press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements relating to the growth of our business. Actual results may differ materially from our expected results. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations include competition, our ability to continue to attract users to our web sites, our ability to attract web sites to our AdSense program, general economic conditions and those economic conditions specific to the Internet and Internet advertising, our ability to innovate and improve monetization, and the growth of the market for internet advertising. More information about potential risk factors is included in our report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2006, and from time to time in other reports that we file with the SEC.

Investors:
Fox Interactive Media

News Corp.
Ann Burkart
310-969-7220

Julie Henderson
310-969-7141

Reed Nolte
212-852-7092

Google
Jon Murchinson
650-253-4437

Maria Shim
650-253-7663

Recently Unearthed E-Mail Reveals What Life Was Like In 1995

2006-08-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

On occassion, I like to read the musings of The Onion. If you haven't read before, I recommend for those looking for the 'lighter' side of current events. =)

Recently Unearthed E-Mail Reveals What Life Was Like In 1995
May 30, 2006 Issue 42•22

KNOXVILLE, TN—A 1995 e-mail extracted from the hard drive of a recently unearthed Compaq desktop PC offers a tantalizing glimpse into the day-to-day life of a primitive Internet society, said the archaeologists responsible for its discovery.

Archaeologists carefully examine the cryptic e-mail for more clues to its origin

"We're very excited by this find, because only by understanding our e-mail past can we hope to understand our e-mail present and future," said Northwestern University archaeology professor Lane Caspari, who has been leading the dig through the equipment storage area of a Knoxville-area credit union since late April, on Tuesday. "The discovery also sheds new light on the 1990s—an era we know very little about."

Written by a "scully666@compuserve.com" and addressed to a "makincopeez@prodigy.net," the writer expresses the ancient equivalent of boredom, asks the receiver about his or her status in their primeval office environment, then refers to the act of sending the e-mail itself.

"Nothing going on," begins the e-mail. "What's up with you? Are you going to Mike's b-day thing on Friday? I'm thinking about it. I might go, but I'm not sure yet."

The e-mail continues, "Let me know if you get this e-mail twice. I'm still trying to learn the system. I think the managers know when we're on the Net, so I'll stay away from the web surfing and check my e-mail only once a day."

The e-mail is signed only "K." It contains no subject line.

"It shows that these forgotten people of the '90s had many of the same concerns as modern man, such as b-days, and slow periods at work," Caspari said. "The presence of the archaic slang verbalization 'what's up' appears to indicate that they cared about the immediate welfare of others in their closely knit community, much as we do today."

But the artifact reveals differences as well. According to Caspari, the find indicates that people from that era spoke a much earlier form of e-mail language alien to our own, employing the full spellings of most words, and lacking the versatility and advanced expression of smiley-face or frowny-face emoticons.

Researchers were hoping that "Untitled 1995," as they've dubbed it, would help fill-in the long-sought missing link between the ancient e-mail world and the modern era. The Compaq's hard drive crashed shortly after the discovery, a more thorough study of the early writing is impossible. Only a paper copy of the e-mail remains.

"It was heartbreaking to see that hard drive die, but there was a certain tragic poetry to it, as well," Caspari said. "Few have ever had the privilege of receiving, first-hand, a beacon from our distant past, calling out to us across the sea time."

Neither e-mail address is active any longer, but their names may provide clues to long-forgotten events or important rulers of the time.

"Scully666' was likely a figure from these people's pantheon of god-figures," Caspari said. "'Makincopeez' is a reference lost to the ages."

Only four known e-mails pre-date this one, including a 1992 ASCII drawing of Star Trek's Mr. Spock, found by a group of Indian laborers salvaging precious metals from computer hardware in a Mumbai dump in 2004.

Caspari said it was "extraordinary" that the early e-mailers showed an awareness of the importance of their new tool.

"This clearly points to a reverence for the technology, but also an intense anxiety about a power they could not have understood," Caspari said. "It's safe to assume that 1995 was a terrifying and confusing time, and they must have struggled to make sense of it all."

While much work remains before researchers can hope to illuminate the secrets of the ancient and mysterious period of the late '90s, they say the discovery itself is an important milestone in understanding human history.

"Listening to the whir of the disc drive and watching the blink of the cursor, we glimpsed, for a moment, life through a completely different set of eyes," Caspari said. "But, in the end, we realized have more in common with our shadowy ancestors than we might like to think."

2006-08-07T01:29:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to keep a tally of the latest Massively Multiplayer Online Worlds(MMOW) start-ups. Raj Kapoor, a managing partner at Mayfield Fund has a good overview of the emerging category - Massively Multiplayer Online Worlds. Essentially, its an online hangout for people to meet and interact with the same virtual currency business model established through online casual games/MMORPGs like KartRider. Outside of IM, social networks and the emerging avatar genre in the US, MMOW concepts are still in their infancy today. The sophistication and purchasing power that MMOW concepts create are somewhat 'Lost in Translation" in the US today or maybe haven't found the right vehicle today outside of today's Myspace generation, which is mainly based on advertising.

Korea, Japan, China and Europe have established examples. I'm trying to validate a virtual world concept today that may have broad appeal for US markets. Would love to compare notes with anyone looking in the category.

Companies I'm tracking:
SecondLife(US) - Development is complicated.
Gaia Online(US)
Habbo Hotel(Europe)
Artificial Life(China)
Cyworld(Korea)
Cosmo Gurashi(Japan) - MMOW based on virtual farming. A player becomes a farmer who, buys a plot of land, grow various vegetables and fruits, harvests and ships to the Agricultural Cooperatives

Plenty of avatar communities - Meez, Oddcast, etc.

Please email me with any thoughts and companies you have seen in this category.

Adify - New Ad Network For Publishers

2006-08-06T18:01:00.000-07:00

We continue to see a trend of new online ad networks, paid search optimization companies trying to get piece of the $16B online ad market with companies such as Adify and Eurekster leading the charge. Om Malik's blog briefly talks about Adify, Venrock funded start-up co-founded by former execs of Flycast Communications, an early ad network sold to CMGI for over $600M+. Adify wants to empower the small-medium publisher with an ad platform with tighter integration tools, controls, better monetization of unused ad-inventory, and all the usual bells and whistles for back office management. Similarly, Eurekster, tries to offer tigher control and management to the publishers through contextual/behavior-aware search. Technology has roots from NBCi and New Zealand R&D. These are two examples(out of hundreds of other start-ups) targeting publishers looking for a more targeted ad sell AND paid search opportunity than what Google can offer today. Problem, Google AdSense/AdWorlds too generic. Opportunity?

Breaking Out of the 2.0 Hype...

2006-08-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting read from another blog post on suggestions for the entrepreneur as well as VC on what to look for in building a successful internet company today. Here's the link

A brief summary of the Top 10 points:
1. Have a revenue model, right now.
2. Be a complete business, not just a feature.
3. Affect real people, not just bloggers.
4. Get a real, memorable name. Kinda funny but true...
5. If applicable, get unaffiliated with Web 2.0, because it is hype and will have a very negative backlash in a little while.
6. Find some friends who don’t drink the kool-aid and get their honest feedback.
7. If you are evolutionary, then there needs to be a big enough market to address with a “we’re a little better than them” vision.
8. Fit your business into an existing food chain.
9. Do not expect to be Google and, just as importantly, do not expect them to buy you.
10. And keep your reality hat on, you might need it, because there’s a lot of hype, and seeing through the haze is not always easy.

The Consumer Experience Reinvented

2006-08-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/12/cereality/index.html

I came across this new, well sort of new, food concept(Cereality Cafe) awhile back and just remembered to write about. It's an example of the importance of creating a lasting consumer experience, no matter whatever the retail, product, and service may be...in this case, plain old cereal. Still not clear how sustainable and defensible this is, but I give credit to the founders on their creativity, and ability to think outside-the-box. My two-cents:

- they claim to have patents and trademark protection? on what? proprietary cereal combos" cocoa-puffs + trix? hummm...the founders' backgrounds really do add buzz to the concept...brand development. positive. but don't BS people, proprietary? i give them trademark credit for nice little wizzy slogans, "its always saturday morning at cereality..." catchy...

- this falls in the novelty food category, similar to the cupcakes, magnolia's bakery(east coast) and now http://www.sprinklescupcakes.com (west coast)

- its all about execution at the end of the day. any start-up whether that be a new food concept or internet/tech start-up. people, people, people! hire the right people! did i mention people? keep costs low, drive to create a memorable consumer experience, oh yeah, and capital...to whether the storms. expect lots of copycats, so consider innovating constantly and make sure you have early enough lead, and always, always have an exit strategy!

- i do like how they've created lots of buzz with a PR agency - http://www.burson-marsteller.com. but, probably not necessary at such an early stage? brand awareness = first to market...consumers associates your name to the new category...starbucks = coffee. cereality = cereal. if you are second, then consider differentiating based on cost, quality, entry to capture your audience. Because, you can't fool today's sophisticated and fickle consumer...has anyone read the book, the wisdom of crowds?

- what i like about this concept? new novel concept, take something everyone is familar with and create new packaging, brand. ability to leverage economies of scale.

- founders seem pragmatic enough to refine the idea first by opening a small 200 sq ft kiosk on asu campus for college students to iron out the kinks. purpose to iron out all the kinks.

- also like how they seem to have secured marketing, financial or distribution deals with big name cereal/food like quaker, general mills, kelloggs, etc. i think they have some investment $$$ from quaker. quaker has been slumping in sales, need new marketing campaign and pipeline of novel concepts. also, cereality has a kiosk POS for market stats, analytics for these cereal companies, good market research data, quaker provided these kiosks to them.

- they also brough on a vp ops from starbucks to execute the business plan...nice move for first-time food entrepreneurs. they are also expanding into nontraditional retail venues, have 4 locations todays, looking into more campus, hospitals, airports, office building, mobile carts, etc. seem to be operating at high speed and attracting the right buzz with media...all the major newspapers, and some tv shows, news have done little blurbs on cereality so far...a company less than 2 years old. so maybe the PR agency may be a good idea? But, how does this translate into $$$?

It's Saturday morning all the time
'Cereality' founders think outside the box and bring people together

Cereality's motto is "It's always Saturday morning."
(CNN) -- For many who walk into Cereality, it is hard not to feel like a kid.
At the quick-serve restaurant that serves customers only cereal or food made from cereal, there are TV screens that show nothing but cartoons, all the servers wear pajamas and you can even have your cereal with chocolate milk.
All four Cereality stores serve more than 30 different brands of cereal, hot and cold, that can be eaten by themselves or mixed and matched.
Behind the counter, customers see glass-front kitchen cabinets showcasing boxes of the many brands they can choose from -- a sight that would make cereal fan Jerry Seinfeld weep with joy.
The choice can be daunting, causing some customers to have a deer-in-the-headlights look in their eye.
At the flagship Cereality store at Arizona State University, pajama-clad "Cereologist" Carley Partridge helps customers decide from several combinations and toppings ranging from the classic sliced bananas to the more bizarre options, such as the explosive candy "Pop Rocks."
"I don't understand how people can have Rice Krispies and Pop Rocks," Partridge says. "That's just too much snap, crackle, and popping for me. But people do that a lot in our store."
Refrigerator magnets adorn the sides of the "Moo Machine" dispensing milk in varieties from whole to skim to soy.
Customers can sit on stools at a bar that looks like a counter out of someone's kitchen, pull up to the tables throughout the restaurant, or curl up on comfy couches with a heaping serving of their favorite fix, whether it be Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops or both.
Cereality's co-founders Rick Bacher and David Roth say that 95 percent of Americans eat cereal and for many people -- especially customers trying to get their order in before the 7 p.m. closing time -- cereal is not just for breakfast.
Sneaking some cereal
When Cereality was not even a twinkle in their eyes, Bacher and Roth were working together consulting with companies to help them better package and market their products.
Roth says he got the idea for Cereality by watching people enjoy cereal all around him.
While sitting in a friend's Wall Street office, he did a double-take when he saw his Brooks Brothers-suited buddy sneak out a handful of Cocoa Puffs to eat at his desk.
Roth's pal confided that he was not the only executive in the office that took workday cereal breaks.
"He said 'Oh, we all do this. ... We all eat cereal. We sneak it. We bring it into our offices,'" Roth says.
Roth also notices other people eating cereal in his day-to-day life. He says he would see "moms with strollers -- [on] one side were diapers and the other side Cheerios."
Roth shared his idea with Bacher, and the pair set to work making their idea a reality.
The partners opened their first store in 2003 in the student union of Arizona State.
Since then, they have opened three more stores: one in Chicago and two in Philadelphia.
The cereal connection
Bacher says Cereality had an advantage that many new companies do not have -- customers are deeply familiar with their product.
"It's an unusual food because [cereal is] probably the only food you have throughout your entire life," Bacher says. "I think it's probably the first food that you choose yourself as a young child, walking down that cereal aisle where you own that choice of picking out that box of cereal. It's something you enjoy your entire life, and you just maintain that connection to it."
His partner and co-founder David Roth says this connection brings people together in their stores.
At the Philadelphia Cereality, customers spanning many walks of life can be seen sitting together at the store's 12-seater dining room table, talking about how they like their cereal and asking, "Oh, what did you get?"
"They are so connected to cereal and the rituals that they have with it that last throughout their life," Roth says of his customers, "and then they find when they go into our cafes and they sit with strangers they are connected to them and conversations begin that are totally unexpected. [It] crosses all demographics, all cultural all economic lines."
Cereality's motto is "It's always Saturday morning."
"Every time I ask someone, 'What does a Saturday morning mean to you?'" Roth says. "They all tell me the same thing. It means sitting with my brother or sitting with my sister and watching cartoons having our favorite cereals, having a moment in time."

Melting Pot Concept

2006-08-06T14:16:00.000-07:00

I came across a new fast casual food concept that seems to be on the right track in terms of taking a classic asian item(dimsum/dumplings) and bringing an american spin to it...chinese steamed buns(pork, chicken, etc). its the panera/corner bakery meets DimSum...

http://www.wowbao.com/

http://www.steamerscorp.com

both offer a casual, cafe/coffee/bakery concept appeal for casual dining.

my take:
- has potential to expand menu into different flavored buns. world flavors? A la when Gourmet Wraps, World Wraps, Gourmet360 Burritos.
- These little dumplings are cheap! Keep costs low, open up a few more and you're on your way.

"Best Maui Restaurant," 13 Consecutive Years by HONOLULU Magazine Readers’ Poll

2006-08-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

Just took a trip with my wife to Maui and had a chance to visit David Paul's Lahaina Grill in Maui. It was nice way to celebrate our anniversary. Great little restaurant! Kudo's to Jurg, the proprietor and the rest of the staff at David Paul's. Anyone visiting the Kanaapali/Lahaina area and want something beyond the plate lunch or TGIF caliber food, I highly recommend this restaurant. Jurg, the proprietor used to be the executive chef at Mandarin Oriental in HK and the service and quality of food is comparable to to fine dining establishments in NYC, SF, etc. If you do visit, tell them we sent you, he may throw in a flourless chocolate cake! =) Am trying to convince Jurg to open up a restaurant in SF.

http://www.lahainagrill.com/press2006.php?k=a

"Best Maui Restaurant," 13 Consecutive Years by HONOLULU Magazine Readers’ Poll

David Paul’s Lahaina Grill in Maui, Hawaii, Voted "Best Maui Restaurant" by Subscribers
The 22nd Annual Hale ‘Aina (Hawaiian for "Eating Place") Awards Featured in January Issue
Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii (January 11, 2006)—David Paul’s Lahaina Grill in Lahaina Town, Maui, Hawaii, is excited to share that subscribers of HONOLULU Magazine voted them "Best Maui Restaurant" via ballots provided in the August 2005 issue. An independent research firm counted the ballots, and the winners received plaques and acknowledgment at the awards ceremony held in Honolulu last year. The awards feature—titled "The 22nd Annual Hale ‘Aina Awards"—can be found in the current January 2006 issue (starting on page 47), detailing the winning restaurants throughout the State of Hawaii.
"Called Hale ‘Aina for the Hawaiian word ‘eating place,’ the awards debuted in 1984 and were the first to recognize local tastes, rather than those of Mainland publications," writes Kathryn Drury Wagner, managing editor for HONOLULU Magazine.
This is the thirteenth consecutive Hale ‘Aina win for David Paul’s, an establishment that prides itself on its patrons—and thereby readers, and voters—to be the judge of its quality and creativity in cuisine, professionalism in service, the final decider of the evening’s overall dining experience, and their level of satisfaction.
For more about the Hale ‘Aina awards, or for dinner reservations, call (808) 667-5117 or visit www.lahainagrill.com. David Paul’s Lahaina Grill is located at 127 Lahainaluna Rd. in the historic Lahaina Inn, and dinner is served nightly from 6pm.
ABOUT DAVID PAUL’S LAHAINA GRILL
David Paul’s Lahaina Grill offers innovative, New American cuisine that uses techniques and flavors from around the world, all perfectly blended with the freshest ingredients cultivated by Maui’s local farms, dairies, and surrounding waters. David Paul’s Lahaina Grill has been voted "Best Maui Restaurant" for thirteen consecutive years by HONOLULU Magazine readers’ poll (1994-2006). Editor, John Heckathorn, states, "The kalua duck was so rich and smooth that if I could walk on water, I’d walk to Lahaina to eat it again."