Timothy Chen

• Special effects - the Ray Ban sunglass catching video is a great example.  In general, any video that generates debate generates viewers
• Animal/pet tricks - man is drawn to animals just as he is to fire… it’s hard to explain, but it seems to have to do with primitive wiring in the brain
• Cute kids - one of the draws of online video is that real people capture real moments, and nothing is as straightforward as a child just being herself
• Repetitive, catchy music - certainly not a new concept, but with infinite channels come many more opportunities to put up the experimental jingle
• Physical injury - thank goodness it’s not me!
• Pranks - thank goodness it’s not me!
• Spoofs - ride the coattails of the tried and true
• And of course, sex always sell

(source)

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剛剛突然看到PTT PDA版出現一篇新聞轉錄，代號HTC Dream的「夢幻機」今天正式亮相？真名為”HTC Viva” (HTC 萬歲機?!)

STPI的搶先揭露原稿在這，有法人機構背書，應該不會再是芭樂了吧？

外型和之前影片流傳的不太一樣，照片被「鑽石機化」之後，感覺優雅了許多。左方大圓盤該不會是…滑鼠滾輪技術吧XD

Tags: Android, Dream, Google, HTC, Viva

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老大哥後來居上？　中華黃頁與微軟合推線上地圖搜尋服務

以上兩張圖跟黃頁無關，純粹展示一下比較常被大家「自動忽略」的Microsoft線上地圖+virtual earth服務…

其實我滿懷疑有誰會去找黃頁的店家。現在搜尋都這麼方便了，連老人小孩都逐漸養成搜尋的基本sense，有精確的資訊可以找，為什麼要去大海撈針呢？話說回來，Live Page的衛星模式和地圖模式切換速度有稍微比Google Map快一點。如同今天在MIX08 seminar所dmeo的韓國某航空公司的物流系統，Online Map+RIA+GPS有機會成為the next big thing. 不過我有個小小請求，衛星圖再多開放個一兩層zoom in吧，看清楚街道能玩的可就更多囉。

Tags: Live Page, 中華電信, 黃頁

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很多時時候，unconventional wisdom總是讓我起床後的精神為之一振：

The goal of the marketer is to have no one click on the ad EXCEPT for people who intend to buy. In fact, clever marketers try to sneak in ads that are unappealing enough that only the truly motivated will actually click. (source)

當你在處理關鍵字廣告時，是想極大化點閱率？還是想極大化投資報酬率？小心文案寫得太吸引人…

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九月四號，我們就會看見媒體號稱的「微軟史上最大的廣告計畫」。斥資3億美金，請來的美國第一線諧星Jerry Seinfeld和Bill Gates站台，是的，你沒看錯，比爾蓋茲這次要親自出馬了…

這一系列廣告名key theme為”Windows, Not Walls”，而訴求是什麼呢？

The campaign is said to be based on the idea of “Windows, Not Walls,” stressing the need to “break down barriers that prevent people and ideas from connecting.” Something we think open-sourcers might have a laugh at. Anywho, the immediate goal of the campaign is to reverse the negative public perception of Vista and thus incorporates elements of the Mojave Experiment. While we have doubts about the latter, the combination of Seinfeld’s pithy observations with a bit of that Bill Gates, self deprecating humor seen in “Bill’s Last Day” could be a winning combination. (source)

看來這真的不是一個簡單的任務，campaign都還沒出來，網路上已經出現質疑調侃的文章。我想，屆時一定會喚起和Get A Mac Campaign的比較…不對稱戰爭第二回合準備要開打了。

Tags: Jerry Seinfeld, Microsoft

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以下摘自We Shall not Fail (中譯：邱吉爾的導導智慧)，p.46

邱吉爾從未停止學習，一生研讀歷史、政治、軍事及大思想家，以下是他二十一歲在印度的書單：

年度議事錄 Annual Register

物種緣起 On the Origin of Species

政治經濟學手冊 Manual of Political Economy

羅馬帝國興亡錄 The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

我的人生與寫作回憶錄 Memories of my Life and Writing

憲法史 Constitution History

現代思維及現代思潮 Modern Science and Modern Thought

英格蘭史 History of England

人口 論 An Essay in the Principle of Population

共和國 The Republic

人的苦難 The Martyrdom of Man

悲觀論 The Pessimist’s Handbook

國富論 Wealth of Nations

粗體字是有空要先來看看的經典。

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It reads: 91% of mobile users keep phone within 1 meter reach 24×7.

It’s huge. How to make money out of this obvious pattern of behavior? Ads solely won’t work. Mobile phones are considered personal and privacy sensitive, most ads, regardless display ads or text ads, will be intrusive when  appearing on the small screen and disrupt your intimate interaction with the phone.

How about providing healthcare service on it?

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Guess what? Microsoft is the worldwide NO.1 site with most unique visitors?! Noted: it could be combined numbers of branded properties. That is to say Microsoft = MSN + Live + MS.com

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Another interesting chart:

How many human beings are on earth?

Ans:6,501MM

How many mobile subscribers are on earth?

Ans:3,285MM

How many credit/debit cards are in use on earth? Ans:7,966MM

Crazy animals…

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You know the world’s NO.1 and NO.2 social network sites are based in US, but do you know US market is not always leading the trend? Take a look at what’s hot around the world (highest usage penetration on earth):

• E-Commerce: Germany
• Online Game: China
• Broadband: South Korea
• Mobile Payment + TV: Japan
• Microtransactions vis SMS: Philippines
• Social Networking: Brazil / South Korea
• Online Advertising: UK

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之前好像一直聽到記者抱怨Windows 7官方口風緊，什麼都不願意洩漏，現在Engineering Windows 7官方開發部落格(博客?)終於開張，想必另一波comment大戰勢必上演。8/14發表的文章，五天內已經有將近300篇回覆。如果你還是覺得只看blog沒騷到養處，可以考慮參加美國10/27舉辦的PDC (Professional Developer Conference)與11/5舉辦的WinHEC，聽說將在兩個場子中透漏深入(in depth)的Windows 7相關技術資訊。如果飛一趟美國太夢幻，屆時也可以密切注意活動網頁上的現場video影片。

懶得看英文？也可以看這邊簡體中文翻譯版Engineering Windows 7 博客。

簡體中文版的大標題「E7歡迎你」，怎麼聽起來有點像2008北京奧運的主題曲「北京歡迎你…」

Tags: e7, MSDN, PDC, Windows 7 blog, windows 7 部落格, windows 7博客, WinHEC, 官方

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People yield their seats to the elderly, disabled and pregnant women because of empathy or because of peer pressure?

每天搭捷運，有沒有想過這個問題：人們讓座博愛座的動機是什麼？同情心？罪惡感？

這世界有有哪些產品或服務，會讓消費者感覺到「不買(不用)就會有罪惡感」？我現在馬上想到的是中世紀天主教的贖罪卷…

或是節能環保訴求的產品？

或是軟體業？

使用盜版的軟體的人理應也會有罪惡感，但問題在於身邊太多人使用盜版了，如同你正想讓座時，發現你隔壁那位佔據博愛座的學生仍不為所動，你的罪惡感是否被沖淡一些了呢？

該如何喚醒消費者的罪惡感？像捷運車廂廣播一樣，天天輪播道德宣言嗎？

Please yield your seat to the elderly, disabled passengers and pregnant women, thank you.

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富爾頓：我在每一個地方，每一個環境，都會發現大家有深切的無力感。外面的人看企業，會覺得他們看起來勢力強大，擁有龐大的資源。但是，一旦在大企業中工作，經常聽到人家感嘆他們的能力和選擇都受到限制。其他地方也是如此。從外面看來，基金會顯得勢力龐大；從外面看來，非政府組織顯得咄咄逼人。它們勢力強大，因為他們有媒體做後盾，也有老百姓撐腰。從外面看來，聯邦政府顯得非常龐大，財力非常雄厚，應該有能力做很多事情，政府偶而也確實能做些事情，例如在軍事方面。但是，一旦進入這些機構，會發現每一個人對他們需要的力量或控制能力，都覺得絲毫無法掌握。

我們陷入這種權利和無力感的可笑矛盾裡。

以上是本週末看完「關鍵十年」後，最有收穫的最後橋段。希望對世界做出改變的理想志士，往往本身不具有影響力，具有影響力的人，往往已不再有理想。產生這些變化的，就是位於中間的組織。個人無法單就自己的力量偏移世界運轉的軌道，因此需要藉由組織，強而有力的組織來當槓桿。然而，一旦加入組織後，才發現自己竟站在軸心中，無論如何使力都無法作功。對系統外，產生不了影響，對系統內，卻是持續消耗能量。

所以，我猜這是為什麼改變世界者，總是那些盡可能遠離既有系統，或是開創新系統的第一人。站在巨人的肩膀上能做大事，進到巨人的胃裡可不見得有好事。

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What will happen if you suddenly hear that estimation of US online ad spending has been cut from 1.35 billion to 505 million?

Spending Forecast for Web Video Ads Slashed

It means YouTube et al. have to wait a bit longer to generate significant ROI for Google or other video-sharing platform acquirers.

It means it’s still not too late to enter this market as a (amateur) content producer. Less profit, less competition, more chances to win. You always have first-mover advantage before gold rushers appear and big content providers join the game.

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Here you go:

If we compare global online ad leaders, including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, from Q1/2005 to Q1/2008, share of Yahoo’s global online advertising revenue slumped from 35% to 20%, a 43% loss in a 3-year period. At the same time, Google’s share grew from 43% to 65%, almost 50% in growth. (thanks to Web2.0 boom?)

How was Microsoft doing in the last 3 years? Not good. But MS’s business model doesn’t relies on ad revenue solely, while Yahoo collects money mainly from display ads. It really foretells that surviving as a free media platform won’t be as easy as 10 years ago. Economic conditions asides, when publishers find out more and more consumers becoming smarter (immune to online ads) and moving their attention away from portal sites to social sites, Yahoo’s cash cow will get thinner and thinner in the future.

Does Jerry yang have a new business model in mind?

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The statistic may be largely based on US demographic, thus US users’ preferences. But since more than 50% traffic on Facebook are coming outside US, this chart still represents what people tend to do on a social network site.

Interesting human behaviors can be found online:

No2. App : Comparing yourself with friends

No5. App: Categorizing friends

In real life, we do so daily intentionally or unintentionally, don’t we?

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Have you ever thought about the drive behind your contribution to your company? Are you working for relationship, for money, or for an ego ideal? 

When in doubt, watch this video:

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

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Here are the traps for those who want overnight success on social something:

The trap: Show up at a new social network, invest two hours, be really aggressive with people, make some noise and then leave in disgust.

The trap: Use all your money to build a fancy website and leave no money or patience for the hundred revisions you’ll need to do.

The trap: read the tech blogs and fall in love with the bleeding-edge hip sites and lose focus on the long-term players that deliver real value.

The trap: sprint all day and run out of energy before the marathon even starts. (source)

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In addition to changing the name of this blog, I’ve made the following decisions -

1. Displaying one post per page
2. No more widgets (unless I find useful ones)
3. Showing only the latest three posts.

to celebrate on my new R&R in MSTC, and to remind you and me ONE thing: FOCUS.

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