A little over a month ago, I had said that there would be some design changes for the website.
Now, it’s here!
Every month or so, I will be changing the background image to something that I have drawn. I call this the blackboard background design (BBD for short ;))
- Peter Kao
This makes me really mad. Microsoft has done it again. Over and over again they prove to be deceitful, which just shows that they are a company without any sense of moral value. I can’t believe that the world’s largest and most influential company can be so evil. Okay fine - evil might be an overstatement, but I really hate how they conduct business.
I was reading a research paper produced by the Atlas Institute from Microsoft. They are part of Atlas - the advertising section of Microsoft that produces research data to help advertisers [convert into paying-suckers for Microsoft’s overvalued products]. The purpose of the research is to show how the Atlas platform is able to more closely predict actual reach with projected reach. They even had the balls to put this up on the first page of the paper:
So what was in the research paper that made me so mad? This…
At first glance, it looks like any digestible graph, however, upon further inspection one can see that the axises (Actual Reach) and (Predicted Reach) do not start with the same distances from the origin. In fact, the bottom axis (Actual Reach) starts slightly to the right of the graph. This would be okay if you were comparing two completely different kinds of values such as time with temperature, but we are talking about the same kinds of numbers here - we’re talking about the number of audiences. To make matters worse, the scale is on a log10 scale! That means the increments in the axis increase logarithmically (with base 10)! A slight shift in the graph would mean HUGE inaccuracies in the graph.
Before I go any further, note that the closer the samples (presented as dots) are to the solid line, the more accurate the prediction reach is to the actual reach. Microsoft has skewed the solid line so that it better matches with the actual numbers!
So, I took the liberty to fix the graph a bit so that the line looks like how it’s suppose to look like:
The blue line that I have drawn is the actual line. The closer the dots are to the line, the more accurate the data is. At the bottom in green, I separated the increment of 10 million into smaller increments of 800,000 to show how off Microsoft was in their mistake.
They were approximately off by 800,000 to 1,500,000 audiences! That’s a huge difference.
Screw you Microsoft. I’m not going to use your stupid-ass Atlas product.
Note: I’m sure that this mistake has gone unnoticed for most executives/managers. Not everyone has the time to look at the graph carefully. And that’s exactly what Microsoft counts on…
- Peter Kao
It’s been a while since my last post…hope this will make it up.
Today, I want to talk about an article a good friend of mine sent me. I’m a big fan of Wired (but never have subscribed :P) and this article reminded me how great the magazine is.
The article was written by the editor-in-chief, Chris Anderson and talks about how all digital products will ultimately become free. The production costs and overhead for producing these digital products (such as software) will be so cheap that [digital products] will become free. And the success of online businesses will be determined by the effectiveness of converting free users to paying users via bait-and-switch methods.
Although I disagree with Chris that ALL digital products will become free (since not all forms of online businesses can survive on the bait-and-switch model), I have, however, learned an important lesson.
If you are offering a product for dirt cheap, might as well make it free and find some ways to turn that free customer into a sale.
The reason for this is that when you offer a product for cheap, the image of the product will also become cheap (like the price). But by making it completely free, not only does the user start to rely on the product, but they associate positive feelings toward the company that produced it, reducing the need to PR the hell out of your company. As a bonus, you also get more eye-balls on your product, which may lead to more conversion of sales.
Read the full article here - Free! Why $0.00 is the Future of Business
- Peter Kao
Anyone interested in going?
Here’s the email I got from Jenn Zehr (from UW):
“
You and your team are invited to attend an exciting networking event
with an accelerated twist! Speed Networking is designed to give you a quick and entertaining opportunity to introduce yourself and pitch your business idea to other young entrepreneurs. The finalists for the CBET Entrepreneurship Challenge will be announced at this event. Final presentations will take place March 14, 2008 at CBET.
Benefits of Speed Networking
- Make more business contacts in one night than most make in a month
- Perfect your “60 Second” pitch
- Face-to-face networking
- Fun and fast paced
- Great for new entrepreneurs
Pizza and refreshments will be served. RSVP by March 4, 2008, 12 noon. ** Because this event requires specific pre-arrangements I ask that
you RVSP by 12 noon. If you do not register by this time, we may not
be able to accommodate you and your team.
CBET Entrepreneurship Challenge - Speed Networking for Entrepreneurs
When: Tuesday March 4, 2008
Time: 4:30 - 6:30pm
Location: CBET
RSVP required by March 4, 12 noon.
How It WorksWith all participants seated in pairs, the Speed Networking sessions
will commence. During each fast paced session, participants will be
able to network face-to-face. After the end of each session,
participants will quickly alternate their seating arrangements to pair
up with their next networking opportunity. This process will continue until all participants have interacted with each other.
In just a few minutes, participants will share business cards, history and offer new contacts with valuable information about their business. For example:
? Who do you know that might need their services?
? How might each company do business with one another?
? Can you introduce them to anyone who can help them?
I look forward to seeing you all next Tuesday! When you RSVP please mention any dietary restrictions you may have.
Enjoy the weekend.
Jenn Zehr
“
- Peter Kao
Today, I did a 40+ min presentation in front of a panel of 4 judges for the Enterprise co-op option, which assists UW students with their startups. The option was started in 1999 and only around 50 applicants has been approved.
Now, I’m one of them 
The presentation went really smoothly and I felt like I’ve expressed my passion and enthusiasm for my venture pretty well. Two of the judges are also involved with the Start Your Own Business Summer Program, so I think I have a pretty good chance on getting a government grant for my business in the summer as well!
The judges were also very helpful in informing me how big transactions in the marketing world are made. There are several challenges that they have brought up that I must think thoroughly over, but what a great experience it was presenting my business!
W00t!!!
- Peter Kao
