blogging continues to help

blogging is cool!
I love it...
i just wish i could have more time spending on it.
Sometimes, when i got busy, I stopped coming back here for a while. IN fact, I should come here no matter what... this is part of my 2008 resolution!
yes!

check this article out!
"Blogging's Low Cost, High-Return Marketing Tool"

Is is really true?
I agree!

Top 10 Internet Video of 2007

something you might have seen or overlooked. =p
Have a good look back of 2007.

- David


Top 10 Internet Videos of 2007 - Watch more free videos

shocking news: Baidu CFO

my buddie shared a shocking news with me today, on the last day of 2007.
I guess this is one of the most shocking news I have heard toward the end of 2007.

The CFO of Baidu, Shawn Wang (Zhansheng) just passed away in an accident in Hainan. According to a Chinese press, he drowned while swimming in the sea in Hainan while he was on this new year holidays there.

I was really shocked when I heard about it. Was it really the truth? it was really unbelievable, as I just listened to his speech at AAMA Beijing Annual Conference at Ritz Carlton, Beijing. He shared his story about his journey with Baidu, lots of insights. He's only 37 this year. He's smart and is definitely capable to help more companies to become the next Baidu in China. What a loss to the finance, IT and the business network.

There could be so much to be learned from him. He just joined the mentorship program of AAMA Beijing for the startups company to guide them along the IPO journey. Now he has just left us in this world and started his journey in another word.

Without guessing, his parents, his wife and kids must be so sad about their loss of a beloved person in their life. I don't know whether they can receive my condolence on the Internet or not. I just hope that they don't fall ill while sending their beloved one to the other world.
Here I sincerely send my condolence to Shawn Wang's family, his co-workers at Baidu and before Baidu and his friends in his life. I am sure he has impacted and changed many people's life so far. Hope the people who had been influenced b him could take their loss calmly. It is hard, definitely.

To my friends, stay safe and healthy! I do care about all of you!

quotes

“it’s not just about the money. Entrepreneurs want to work at the hottest place on earth and right now it’s Facebook.“

Quicken or Mint?

Quicken is releasing its web version on Jan 8, 2008.

Pls refer to this blog post for more information on Quicken 2.0.

Do I like Mint or Quicken?
the answer to me is very obvious... MINT.
1. I know the people who worked on it.
2. It's just very cool and simple to use. (if Quicken has got it, Mint is not here today)
3. Mint understands what young people want. they are playing the adoption game not the financial expert game.
4. To help a new company become successful is more important than give business to an existing company. =p
5. Personal Finance 2.0 is something new and cool. It's not so much about management. it's more of realization of how the financial is doing.
6. It's best for people who keep using their credit card and no cash! - that is the new generation~ even for a $2.50 purchase or parking.

Will it be any competition between the two? Definitely yes if their targeted audiences overlap.
Maybe Intuit will acquire Mint.com. It may take one or two years down the road. It's too early for Intuit to acquire Mint.com - if it does, it's too early... the market is growing... let it grow... Quicken will continue to have a big piece of that pie... so don't kill the market and take the entire small pie... let it grow!

Conclusion:
Mint is the way to go~!

Meebo & Speeddate

Trip to ZJU

ZheJiang Univeristy is very entrepreneurial...
I'll start looking at how we can work together to exchange experiences to build the culture and ecoc-system in Asia.

cool!

Singapore Taxi Fare

I am in Beijing right now...
the Beijing government has just decreased the public transportation fare for the mass. In fact, it is the government subsidy to help reduce the traffic load using private cars.
for buses, you can take a bus as low as 0.40 RMB which like 0.08 SGD or 0.06 USD for sometimes more than 10 kilometer's journey...

if you do not use the tap card, you might have to pay sometimes 10-15 times more by cash.
of course, it is still much cheaper than the cab fare in Beijing.

As for the subway/MRT metro system, it's 2 RMB entrance fee... you can get in wherever you want and stay inside as long as you want and go to whichever station you need to. that's 0.40 SGD or 0.30 USD for taking the subway... WOW!!!

even you take taxi/cab in Beijing, it is still pretty cheap, compared to you taking buses and MRT in Singapore or the US.
the starting fare is 10 RMB with free 3km travel. within 15 km, it's 2 RMB per km. more than 15 km, it's 3 RMB per km. Every 5 minute waiting time will charge you 1 RMB.

If you travel 10km, it costs you about 30 RMB. that's only about 6 SGD and 4 USD.

GOSH!!! it's relatively cheap here right? yes.... TO YOU!

but it is not really cheap to the lots of locals, they do not earn that much money.
see what you can do with 30 RMB...
by bus, 0.40 RMB per trip ... you can get about 75 bus rides (a months' travel)
if you take train, you can have 15 subway trips - a week's travel (to work and back home)

let us now look at what a person mentioned about the Singapore taxi fare

"Please take note that Comfort taxi will adjust its fares from 17 Dec (Mon)
> > and SMRT taxi will be adjusting its fares from 24 Dec (Mon). The fare
> > hikes is around 10 - 40% Prime taxi will not be adjusting their fares for
> > the next 3 months, so let's just take Prime, else we'll take the train.
> >
> > Currently Comfort is saying that the fare hikes are for the cabbies, blah
> > blah blah, but let's just see, a few more months down the road, they'll
> > definitely increase the rental for cabbies.. bloody blood-sucking
> > soul-less corporations!!
> >
> >
> >
> > A brief breakdown of the fare increase:
> >
> > - Starting fare would increase by $0.30 to $2.80. Please note that $2.80
> > is for normal cabs only, for the premium cabs like Mercedes and such, the
> > starting fare will be adjusted accordingly
> >
> > - City Area Surcharge would increase to $3, and it will be charged from
> > Mon - Sat, 5pm - midnight
> >
> > - Midnight Surcharge would revert back to 50% after midnight instead of
> > the current staggered timing.
> >
> > - Peak Hour Surcharge would be 35% of the fares instead of the current $2.
> > It will be charged from Mon - Fri : 7am - 9.30am; Mon - Sat : 5pm - 8pm
> >
> > - Metre rates would increase also 2 times, every increase would be $0.20
> > cents instead of the current $0.10
> >
> > - Booking fees would be decreased to $3.50 for Prime times and $2.50 for
> > Non-Prime times
> >
> >
> >
> > Just an illustration, the distance from my place to the office is around
> > 15km, currently if I book a cab to get home at 7pm, I would have to pay
> > around $17.80:
> >
> >
> >
> > Booking fees: $4
> >
> > Starting fare : $2.50 (first km)
> >
> > First 10km : $4.80
> >
> > Next 4km : $2.30
> >
> > Waiting time : $1.20 (average 5 min)
> >
> > Peak Hour : $2.00
> >
> > City surcharge : $1
> >
> >
> >
> > Under the new fare structure, for the same distance, I would have to pay
> > around $22.50, that is almost 30% increase over the current fares.
> >
> >
> >
> > Booking fees : $3.50
> >
> > Starting fare : $2.80 (first km)
> >
> > First 10km : $5.20
> >
> > Next 4km : $2.40
> >
> > Waiting time : $1.40 (average 5 min)
> >
> > Peak Hour : $4.20 (35% of $11.80)
> >
> > City surcharge : $3"

Mi-ahn Hamida!

I'll not take taxi when i go back to Singapore from the airport to NUS... I'll take the MRT.. no choice. it looks like it is really killing people now... increased by 30% +
anyway... taxi pool will becomes more popular.. good luck to my friends who are working on it..
great opportunity!

What's HDBI?

HDBI

It seems that lots of corporates do use it for its employees.

Technologies to Enhance UX

I came cross this video while reading a post on my friend's blog.


It's about Interactive Surface Computing. Yes... that definitely and significantly enhanced table experiences.... you can work with your table, play with your table and do all sorts of things with your table. Isn't it cool?

Now you don't have to worried about what to do during your first date with a girl or a boy!
hmm... the only think i have to question is whether it is wather proof? and it's cleaning and maintenance. The cost of it has to be cut a lot before it goes into many many households. I guess eventually it will but it will take quite some time, too!

There are more videos on Youtube!
Surface website is very cool too!

First McDonald's TV Commercial

Saw the title on Digg.com then I clicked it.
Yup! It was pretty cool at that time....

check it out: First McDonald's TV Commercial

What's new on Google.cn Home Page?

Google.cn yesterday quietly put "Videos" on the top-left navigation bar on its search home page.
In the Google.com, link to Videos is never there.

What's interesting about this here is 'localization'. The look and feel is already the same. Why cannot the order of the applications in the default navigation bar vary a little? Right, why not!
Google.cn did it.

Any reaons? I read it from a Chinese article and I'll try here to explain it and make sense.
Due to the IP law in the US, Google cannot provide non-copyrighted "MP3 search" services. Because of such legal constraint, Google cannot compete with Baidu in China in terms of music search on the equal footing. [That's why localization is sometimes so key to the success of a global business.]
To bypass the US IP law on the music search, Goolge once again showcases their competency in video search, bu this time it is here in China. To replace music with videos is a great reaction in facing increasing competition in search in China. You might wonder why videos then? I think you might also have guessed why! After all, lots of videos sites also provide stations to play music online. Such solution not only prevents Google from getting sued due to illegal distribution of copyrighted material (music), but also does help Google to serve the Chinese consumers with their increasing music search demands.

This step is a forward step. Nevertheless, Google is still being challenged with other copyright related issues. One of them is that the Chinese search engines provide search results with links to download but Google cannot do that yet legally.


Besides the localization on the Home Page navigation bar, let us take a close look at what's inside this Video.Google.CN. It seems that Video.Google.CN has done some good jobs in working with content producers to provide good content to the users. What's on the top of the page is actually special topic on Director Xiaogang Feng's 2008 Chinese New Year Greeting Movie - "Ji Jie Hao". [I am not sure what that is yet. It sounded like the name of a ship or a submarine. ] What's following by the special topic is a topic on all Director Feng's recent works, followed by categories of videos. Pretty interesting, eh!

on Windows - Maybe I.E.

on MacBook - Firefox

Where to find the Chinese article? - Here!

Updates

Attended Cleantech Forum by Cleantech Network at Beijing Westin.

Met some friends from Peking U, Renmin U and BFSU.

Now busy working on SWOT analysis.

AIM in Gmail Chat

this is fabulous!

Thanks to Open AIM =)

see how you can use AIM while Gmailing just like Gmail-chatting.

Tips on Startups

something you might want to just take a look at it.
This is not a recommendation.
For startups, there are so many different ways of doing it as every single one is so unique and different.

It 's good to hear more and see more how other people are working in this area of entrepreneurship!

Please share with me your thoughts on it if you'd like to.

Article.

Web 2.0 Brands

Very interesting article I read just now.
Would like to share with you: Brand 2.0: Are Social Applications Brands or Expendable Commodities?

How these Web 2.0 brands are evaluated nowadays?
Should it be different from conventional brands?

I don't know branding that well yet, but it is definitely great liquidity there that business people always wanted.
I talked to some people working in the clothes manufacturing. They said the quality of a branded product and a non-branded product is not really that much... Branded stuff do have its IP and some unique values to offer. That's where the liquid is coming from. (correct me if i am wrong!)

Gosh! My office is so hot right now and I am not feeling very well right now!
I almost feel dizzy.

Video: Here Comes Another Bubble