I want to see the Strokes live.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Monday, March 07, 2011
iPad2worldwide.com
An online store I built this weekend. It took ~10 hours, and I'm pretty happy about it. I used open source online store software Prestashop.
Now you can tell your friends when they can get an iPad 2: http://www.ipad2worldwide.com
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Rubberband Game Mechanics
One of the few reasons why Nintendo games are so immensely popular are because they understand how to make multiplayer games fun.
How? The rubber band mechanic.
So what is the rubber band mechanic? It is handicapping players based on how they are performing in relation to their peers. A simple example from racing games would be that the car behind is always faster than the ones in front it. An exaggerated example from Mario Kart would be that karts last in place always get the powerful items over those leading the race.
So why does this matter? Because it makes games close. Close means competitive. And close competition makes players feel like they have a chance to win. Basically, it makes games fun.
In my opinion, all social games, particularly the competitive ones, should use it in some form or manner. The key to using rubber band game mechanics without player's feeling like the game is cheating or not fair is to hide them behind a mechanic that is "supposed" to be random.
How? The rubber band mechanic.
So what is the rubber band mechanic? It is handicapping players based on how they are performing in relation to their peers. A simple example from racing games would be that the car behind is always faster than the ones in front it. An exaggerated example from Mario Kart would be that karts last in place always get the powerful items over those leading the race.
So why does this matter? Because it makes games close. Close means competitive. And close competition makes players feel like they have a chance to win. Basically, it makes games fun.
In my opinion, all social games, particularly the competitive ones, should use it in some form or manner. The key to using rubber band game mechanics without player's feeling like the game is cheating or not fair is to hide them behind a mechanic that is "supposed" to be random.
Letter from Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba.com
Fellow Aliren:
As we have announced today, the B2B board of directors has accepted the resignations of B2B CEO David Wei and COO Elvis Lee. Additionally, former senior VP of B2B HR Kangming Deng has resigned his post as Chief People Officer of Alibaba Group in acceptance of responsibility and will be demoted to a different post.
Several months ago, we discovered that some of our B2B China Gold Supplier (CGS) members were suspected of fraudulent activity. What made it shocking was evidence indicating that certain members of the CGS sales team knowingly allowed, or in some cases even helped, these fraudulent companies join the Alibaba.com marketplace.
We formed a special task force to investigate the situation. According to the preliminary results of a month-long inquiry, we found 1219 CGS (1.1% of all Gold Suppliers) who joined in 2009 and 1107 CGS (0.8% of Gold Suppliers) who joined in 2010 were engaged in fraudulent activity. These fraudsters had joined the Alibaba.com marketplace for the sole purpose of exploiting the platform that we’ve labored to build up over the past 12 years to defraud overseas buyers. At the same time, the investigation confirmed that nearly 100 CGS sales staff knowingly allowed fraudsters to become CGS members so that they could “make their numbers” and receive commission income.
Any tolerance of this type of affront to business ethics and company values is a crime against the rest of our customers and Aliren who remain honest. We must take measures to safeguard the values of Alibaba! All the colleagues who were directly or indirectly involved must be held responsible; more importantly, B2B’s management team must assume primary responsibility. We have already terminated the storefronts of all 2,326 CGS members suspected of fraud, and we have asked law enforcement authorities to assist us in our investigation.
Since the day that Alibaba was established, pursuit of profit has never been our main goal. We have no interest in turning the company into a mere money-making machine. Rather, we have long held firm to our mission of “making it easy to do business anywhere.” When we say “customer first,” we mean that we’d rather sacrifice growth than do anything that would jeopardize our customers’ interests, much less be a part of any blatant fraud.
Over this past month, I’ve experienced a lot of torment, a lot of frustration, a lot of anger…
This is the pain we suffer as we develop, a price that we pay as part of our growth, and it hurts! But we have no choice. It is not possible for us to be mistake-free; we may from time to time commit errors of judgment, but we will absolutely not err by compromising our principles. If we do not face up to reality and find the courage to take painful action, Alibaba will no longer be Alibaba and our pursuit of our 102-year dream and mission will become nothing but a joke!
This world does not need another Internet company, much less another company that can make money;
What this world needs is a company that is more open, more transparent, more sharing, more responsible, more global;
What this world needs is a company that is grounded in society, serves the interests of society, and accepts the responsibilities of society;
What this world needs is a culture, a soul, a belief and an acceptance of obligation. Because these are the only things that will allow us to go further, do better, act with confidence on the challenging path of entrepreneurship.
What comforted me is learning that the overwhelming majority of our CGS sales colleagues upheld their principles in the face of temptation. To these colleagues, I salute you! More importantly, we thank the colleagues who have the courage to stand firm and fight against what is wrong. From their actions we witnessed the courage and power of upholding integrity and principles. In them we see Alibaba’s future and hope! And we need more Aliren like them! Those who do the extraordinary must assume extraordinary responsibilities!
The resignations of David and Elvis are tremendous losses to the company. For me this is extremely sad and hurtful. But I think their willingness as Aliren to step up and accept responsibility is most admirable. On behalf of the company, I want to express my sincere gratitude to the both of them for their unrelenting dedication and contribution to the company.
Fellow Aliren, the B2B board of directors has appointed Jonathan Lu as B2B CEO; the Group has appointed Lucy Peng as Chief People Officer of Alibaba Group. I hope everyone will fully support the work that lies ahead and believe we can make a difference!
This is an era full of promises and an era that no one wants to miss out on. Only through holding onto our ideals and our principles will we be able to become the pride of this era!
If not now? When?
If not me? Who?
Jack Ma
2.21.2011
As we have announced today, the B2B board of directors has accepted the resignations of B2B CEO David Wei and COO Elvis Lee. Additionally, former senior VP of B2B HR Kangming Deng has resigned his post as Chief People Officer of Alibaba Group in acceptance of responsibility and will be demoted to a different post.
Several months ago, we discovered that some of our B2B China Gold Supplier (CGS) members were suspected of fraudulent activity. What made it shocking was evidence indicating that certain members of the CGS sales team knowingly allowed, or in some cases even helped, these fraudulent companies join the Alibaba.com marketplace.
We formed a special task force to investigate the situation. According to the preliminary results of a month-long inquiry, we found 1219 CGS (1.1% of all Gold Suppliers) who joined in 2009 and 1107 CGS (0.8% of Gold Suppliers) who joined in 2010 were engaged in fraudulent activity. These fraudsters had joined the Alibaba.com marketplace for the sole purpose of exploiting the platform that we’ve labored to build up over the past 12 years to defraud overseas buyers. At the same time, the investigation confirmed that nearly 100 CGS sales staff knowingly allowed fraudsters to become CGS members so that they could “make their numbers” and receive commission income.
Any tolerance of this type of affront to business ethics and company values is a crime against the rest of our customers and Aliren who remain honest. We must take measures to safeguard the values of Alibaba! All the colleagues who were directly or indirectly involved must be held responsible; more importantly, B2B’s management team must assume primary responsibility. We have already terminated the storefronts of all 2,326 CGS members suspected of fraud, and we have asked law enforcement authorities to assist us in our investigation.
Since the day that Alibaba was established, pursuit of profit has never been our main goal. We have no interest in turning the company into a mere money-making machine. Rather, we have long held firm to our mission of “making it easy to do business anywhere.” When we say “customer first,” we mean that we’d rather sacrifice growth than do anything that would jeopardize our customers’ interests, much less be a part of any blatant fraud.
Over this past month, I’ve experienced a lot of torment, a lot of frustration, a lot of anger…
This is the pain we suffer as we develop, a price that we pay as part of our growth, and it hurts! But we have no choice. It is not possible for us to be mistake-free; we may from time to time commit errors of judgment, but we will absolutely not err by compromising our principles. If we do not face up to reality and find the courage to take painful action, Alibaba will no longer be Alibaba and our pursuit of our 102-year dream and mission will become nothing but a joke!
This world does not need another Internet company, much less another company that can make money;
What this world needs is a company that is more open, more transparent, more sharing, more responsible, more global;
What this world needs is a company that is grounded in society, serves the interests of society, and accepts the responsibilities of society;
What this world needs is a culture, a soul, a belief and an acceptance of obligation. Because these are the only things that will allow us to go further, do better, act with confidence on the challenging path of entrepreneurship.
What comforted me is learning that the overwhelming majority of our CGS sales colleagues upheld their principles in the face of temptation. To these colleagues, I salute you! More importantly, we thank the colleagues who have the courage to stand firm and fight against what is wrong. From their actions we witnessed the courage and power of upholding integrity and principles. In them we see Alibaba’s future and hope! And we need more Aliren like them! Those who do the extraordinary must assume extraordinary responsibilities!
The resignations of David and Elvis are tremendous losses to the company. For me this is extremely sad and hurtful. But I think their willingness as Aliren to step up and accept responsibility is most admirable. On behalf of the company, I want to express my sincere gratitude to the both of them for their unrelenting dedication and contribution to the company.
Fellow Aliren, the B2B board of directors has appointed Jonathan Lu as B2B CEO; the Group has appointed Lucy Peng as Chief People Officer of Alibaba Group. I hope everyone will fully support the work that lies ahead and believe we can make a difference!
This is an era full of promises and an era that no one wants to miss out on. Only through holding onto our ideals and our principles will we be able to become the pride of this era!
If not now? When?
If not me? Who?
Jack Ma
2.21.2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Pocket Grow
Thinking about starting a LabBox growing project of my own.
The Labbox is a hydroponic plant growing box that has an automated drip system and high powered LEDs to maintain plants all the way to harvest. According to the micro grow project website, you can use your iPhone or a website to control light, temperature and nutrient delivery. And even tweet plant health status!
Now I just need an incremental idea to make this even more interesting...
Hardware is art.
The Labbox is a hydroponic plant growing box that has an automated drip system and high powered LEDs to maintain plants all the way to harvest. According to the micro grow project website, you can use your iPhone or a website to control light, temperature and nutrient delivery. And even tweet plant health status!Now I just need an incremental idea to make this even more interesting...
Hardware is art.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Gaming Based Marketing
More of a book for MBAs new to the idea of gamification than for designers.
I wonder whether if we'll one day become immune to gamification. When we've got points, awards, and progress bars for everything we do, we will probably become selective of the carrot and sticks we're presented with.
I think school, test scores, and grades are indicators that gamification is not an end all be all. It's not like kids don't know what the repercussions of failing out of school are (the end goals of getting good grades), the fact is they simply just don't care.
If every other company were to practice the same few contests & loyalty programs described in the book, I think customers will in the same way start filtering them out. I suppose the question is whether the engaged customers will become more engaged? Or the standard for customer engagement just went up?
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Project 1.1 of 2011
Still tinkering with my board of LEDs (see project 1.0). It wasn't a smooth sailing process at all, bugs kept me up a few nights.
Anyhow, here is streaming live serial data from my Macbook Pro to my peggy2 :)
For those who are curious about the details of what is going on, serial data is being sent from my Macbook Pro (created through processing / quartz composer) to an Arduino Uno through USB, and then converted to I2C before displayed on the peggy.
Project 1.2 will be either turning it Bluetooth (wireless!) or making it sync to my iTunes equalizer.
Anyhow, here is streaming live serial data from my Macbook Pro to my peggy2 :)
For those who are curious about the details of what is going on, serial data is being sent from my Macbook Pro (created through processing / quartz composer) to an Arduino Uno through USB, and then converted to I2C before displayed on the peggy.
Project 1.2 will be either turning it Bluetooth (wireless!) or making it sync to my iTunes equalizer.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Social Games are not social like they seem
I guess it's weird to say something like that when I'm literally betting my career on social games.
But I stand firm on my point. The "social games" we know of today are nothing more than multiplayer games on a social network. These "social games" are not about helping each other out and neither are they about re-engaging with friends. That is just a load of crap from the big *ah-hem* social game developer/publishers.
The truth is that the majority of social gamers only care about themselves. Their farm, their city, their graveyard, etc...the list goes on. The only reason why we call these games "social" is because player's are confronted with obstacles that keep them from progressing in the game unless they find "friends" to help them.
The fact that most of these games have comments like "add me" littered throughout their forums and newsfeeds makes my point clear. When was the last time you heard a social gamer talk about helping friends? They are always talking about what they achieved in the game (such as how big and awesome their city/character has become).
But I stand firm on my point. The "social games" we know of today are nothing more than multiplayer games on a social network. These "social games" are not about helping each other out and neither are they about re-engaging with friends. That is just a load of crap from the big *ah-hem* social game developer/publishers.
The truth is that the majority of social gamers only care about themselves. Their farm, their city, their graveyard, etc...the list goes on. The only reason why we call these games "social" is because player's are confronted with obstacles that keep them from progressing in the game unless they find "friends" to help them.
The fact that most of these games have comments like "add me" littered throughout their forums and newsfeeds makes my point clear. When was the last time you heard a social gamer talk about helping friends? They are always talking about what they achieved in the game (such as how big and awesome their city/character has become).
Friday, February 04, 2011
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Friday, December 03, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Monday, November 08, 2010
Monday, November 01, 2010
Simplicity
in design.
Only until very recently I understood the power of simplicity in web usability. If you look at playing videos on Youtube, liking Facebook Likes, or searching via Google's search bar; the common theme strung throughout those popular services are their near-funnel-free usage mechanics.
It sounds obvious, but we can easily look at the variety of products and services we use everyday, and the truth is most of them are incapable and more inaccessible than the designer expected them to be.
The truth is that everyday user do not want to think. And designing products that don't require us to think is more difficult than it seems....how do we inform a user who doesn't think? Without thought, there are no rules. With no rules, it is difficult to provide a proposition of value to them. The key to designing mass-consumer products is to design for mental reflexes -'thought' is simply too big a barrier in conversion when designing for the masses.
For a while, I used to presume engaging products were about lots of connected features. But now, I think the key is simplicity.
Only until very recently I understood the power of simplicity in web usability. If you look at playing videos on Youtube, liking Facebook Likes, or searching via Google's search bar; the common theme strung throughout those popular services are their near-funnel-free usage mechanics.
It sounds obvious, but we can easily look at the variety of products and services we use everyday, and the truth is most of them are incapable and more inaccessible than the designer expected them to be.
The truth is that everyday user do not want to think. And designing products that don't require us to think is more difficult than it seems....how do we inform a user who doesn't think? Without thought, there are no rules. With no rules, it is difficult to provide a proposition of value to them. The key to designing mass-consumer products is to design for mental reflexes -'thought' is simply too big a barrier in conversion when designing for the masses.
For a while, I used to presume engaging products were about lots of connected features. But now, I think the key is simplicity.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Eric Lau
Eric Lau - For the D (feat. Guilty Simpson)
Eric Lau - Time will tell
Incredible Producer tip from Parker Fay. I love Eric's sound.
Eric Lau - Time will tell
Incredible Producer tip from Parker Fay. I love Eric's sound.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Gameday Tycoon
Been mum all summer working on Gameday Tycoon, and I think it's finally ready to be shown off.
Gameday Tycoon is simply a game where you stay in the loop with your sports friends.
Granted the game could still use work (a lot actually), its been a long dedicated summer for Mahmoud, Fies, and I. Proud to have gotten thus far, but not yet proud to publish would be the most accurate statement.
Our two main hypotheses for the product are that 1)casual sports fans also need a place to re-engage with their friends, and 2)hardcore fans want to re-engage with casual fans outside their fantasy leagues.
I don't think the service will ever be perfect because Gameday is supposed to be a marketing engine. The critical innovations of Gameday Tycoon will come down to three things: 1)engagement 2)virality, and 3)user acquisition. All marketing engines require periodic oil changes, and Gameday isn't any different.
Its interesting how most people don't understand how/where sausages are made.
Gameday Tycoon is simply a game where you stay in the loop with your sports friends.
Granted the game could still use work (a lot actually), its been a long dedicated summer for Mahmoud, Fies, and I. Proud to have gotten thus far, but not yet proud to publish would be the most accurate statement.
Our two main hypotheses for the product are that 1)casual sports fans also need a place to re-engage with their friends, and 2)hardcore fans want to re-engage with casual fans outside their fantasy leagues.
I don't think the service will ever be perfect because Gameday is supposed to be a marketing engine. The critical innovations of Gameday Tycoon will come down to three things: 1)engagement 2)virality, and 3)user acquisition. All marketing engines require periodic oil changes, and Gameday isn't any different.
Its interesting how most people don't understand how/where sausages are made.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Not rocking but addicted to 2k11
Absolutely incredible. If I were publishing/developing NBA2k11, I would consider splitting it into two games. The number of features and bells & whistles on this product is amazing. You can play online, join a league, create a legend, play regular season/exhibition games. The My Player mode is my favorite so far. Made for and by basketball enthusiasts. How many other games evaluate your player performance based on boxing out, opening the lanes on fast break, attempting steals/blocks at the wrong moment? Just incredible how far basketball games have gone since the early days of NBA Live 95.
Proprietary sports game engines are milking cows.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
3 Years in 3 Minutes
It started on January 2007, when Parisian videographer Ramon captured the first image of the demolition work at Tour EDF. 45,000 photographs later, taken from exactly the same point with his Pentax K 110D DSLR, his work was done and a new building was in place. It was September 2010, three years later. That's an average of 42 images per day.
His patience paid off big time. The result is amazing.
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