andrewchau

by Andrew Chau I have to admit that Amazon never stops innovating. This week, they launched the trade-in feature on their website. Gamers can now trade in their used software (it has to be in good condition) and receive credit. GameStop has a similar program, but I think Amazon’s platform is much more user-friendly. I just read an interesting article about it on CNNMoney . You can easily search the games you want to trade in and find it’s trade price. When they go in, they go hard... Read Full Story

by Andrew Chau I read an interesting column about the corporate culture in Southwest and Wal-Mart. I love how the columnist gives a more personal perspective about how each figureheads’ iconic company reflected personal conviction. On a side note, the team is heavy into development over the next few weeks, so the blog posts will be more sporadic. I have several “The Spin” entries in the queue– it looks like other e-tailers like Dell and Best Buy are implementing product rotation into... Read Full Story

I read a great article on branding today. I agree with the writer’s perspective on the emotional part of branding. I still think there are concrete metrics out there to measure one’s affinity with a product, but you can’t discount the qualitative aspect of branding. I use Heinz only because my parents use it. I tried using other ketchups and they all somehow tasted funny. Read Full Story

by Aaron Rau As some of you have noticed, we’ve recently migrated over from CacheFly to CloudFront. It was a big decision for us– after all, content delivery is core to our product.  We will spare you the details exactly why we transitioned, but I will highlight some of the major factors of our CDN decision.  Perhaps this may help you out too! Our Initial Take Ackamai, Limelight, Level 3, Edgecast, Pantherexpress, SimpleCDN, CacheFly, Amazon ( CloudFront ) are definitely contenders when... Read Full Story

by Andrew Chau As an undergraduate, I wrote a guest column in our school’s paper about one of my favorite CEOs, Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.com.  I won’t bore you with his visionary ideas, but I will focus on his central theme of data mining.  I’m sure “data mining” is an overused term now, but a decade ago, the term was only used in inner loyalty marketing circles and old-fashioned database marketing companies.  Fast forward into 2009, marketers cannot envision a world without data... Read Full Story

The team came back together last week from a short Holiday break and excitement is in the air!  We’re getting ready to shoot our video demo this week and we hope to have a rough cut up by the end of the month.  We’re also about to roll out a beta release feature that will rock our platform. Tomorrow will be an historic day, so it’s natural to feel a bit introspective about “change.” It’s amazing to think how much has changed over the past century.  We have grown so much as a society in a... Read Full Story

by Andrew Chau We don’t like to play favorites here at Vergence, BUT we do give major props when it’s well deserved. The Ocarina app on the iPhone is impressive. While I do love my LG Dare (outdated, I know), I am occasionally envious of iPhone users for this simple reason: all the best apps are on the iPhone! Aaron is the only member of our team that has an iPhone, so I’ll have to continue pestering him to use it. Ocarina, for those who don’t follow iJustine (hello Justine, great reviews... Read Full Story

by Andrew Chau We don’t like to play favorites here at Vergence, BUT we do give major props when it’s well deserved. The Ocarina app on the iPhone is impressive. While I do love my LG Dare (outdated, I know), I am occasionally envious of iPhone users for this simple reason: all the best apps are on the iPhone! Aaron is the only member of our team that has an iPhone, so I’ll have to continue pestering him to use it. Ocarina, for those who don’t follow iJustine (hello Justine, great reviews... Read Full Story

We’re following CES all this week. The team couldn’t make it out this year, but come 2010, we’ll be there! Amazing. I won’t even attempt at breaking this down. Google Hacks the Wii Balance Board Read Full Story

We’re following CES all this week. The team couldn’t make it out this year, but come 2010, we’ll be there! Amazing. I won’t even attempt at breaking this down. Google Hacks the Wii Balance Board Read Full Story