Kimi200100's Blog

Lightweight Models & Cost-Effective Scalability – Pets.com & PetSmart

Posted on May 9, 2010 by kimi

Lightweight business models are a natural concomitant of lightweight programming and lightweight connections. The Web 2.0 mindset is good at changes in cost (O’Reilly, 2005). Lightweight models and cost-effective scalability is being used to reduce traditional web costs and risks.

Pets.com is a community resource for Pet Parents and their pals. Whether people have a pet, know a pet, or just love animals, they can join in and explore everything that Pets.com has to offer. From Pets.com people can get expert tips and advice, share stories and pictures, keep track of medical records, and take part in Pets of the Day feature. Furthermore, Pets.com is powered by PetSmart which is the largest specialty retailer of services and solutions for the lifetime needs of pets in United States and Canada.

Pets.com and PetSmart have their own way to achieve scalability and lightweight model both in business and technologies. On the one hand, Pets.com has cataloged its site into various tags, such as community, photos, videos, blogs, and Pet care library. This can be considered as a lightweight model. It does not have complicated applications, just clear and simple web applications can motivate users to interact and share experience with each other. For instance, it provides specific information about pets and it is quite convenient for people to use it. That because different kinds of information are classified according to various types of pets.

On the other hand, PetSmart operates online sales in the United States and Canada, providing a broad range of competitively priced pet food and pet products; services including pet training, pet grooming, pet boarding and pet adoption services. Both websites of Pets.com and PetSmart always links together.

For example, a people have a shepherd dog, and he or she does not know how to feed it. There may be some relevant information about shepherd dogs can be found from Pets.com. Correspondingly, PetSmart provides many options of food or training service for this kind of shepherd dog. In addition, people only need to choose and purchase products online instead of visiting local stores. It reduces the traditional cost by using online shopping service. It does not mean that people are forced to buy things from PetSmart. However, there is potential and scalable connection between Pets.com and PetSmart.

In summary, it can be reflected that Pets.com works as a scalable business strategy which is design by PetSmart in order to reduce traditional costs and deliver products to market faster and cheaper.

Interesting video about PetSmart.

References:
O’Reilly, Tim. (2005). What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software.
PetSmart Corporate. (1999-2010). Company Information.
Pets.com. 2010. About Us.
Wikipedia. (2010). PetSmart.

Posted in Weekly Research on Web2.0 | 6 Comments

Leveraging the Long Tail – Quickflix

Posted on May 2, 2010 by kimi

The Long Tail refers to the statistical property that a larger share of population rests within the tail of a probability distribution than observed under a “normal” or Gaussian distribution (Wiki, 2010). For instance, we used characters actually not too much, but the frequency is high. So these characters take up a fewer large red area in the following picture. In addition, most of characters are hard to use, they are that long yellow tail.

It is the same situation in the marketplace. According to Chris Anderson, as long as the storage and distribution channel is large enough, poor sales of products can share the same or larger market with those which can be a small number of hot products.

Quickflix is Australian largest independent online movie subscription company with a choice of over 40,000 film, TV series, documentary and sporting titles across 400 genres in DVD and high definition Blu-Ray formats. Quickflix delivers rental DVDs to anywhere in Australia free of charge (next day in major cities) and there are no late fees or return deadlines. Since commencement Quickflix has delivered over five million DVDs and now delivers almost 200,000 DVDs each month (Quickflix, 2009).

Quickflix should be a great example to represent the pattern of “Leveraging the Long Tail”. It provides a large enough availability of choice for consumers. Users can not only rent popular movies, but also can find “Long Tail” movies that are rarely found in the video stores. Quickflix also provides an alphabetical searching way for users to search the movie specifically. In addition, by using the rental method, users can find some movies by themselves. It clearly reduces the cost and increase users satisfaction.

In summary, the concept of long tail is an important milestone in Internet development. Internet technology can solve many of the traditional constraints of economics. As a consequence, it provides a wider range of ideas for the businesses. The long tail is a very significant concept that can guide a company to have a tactical way of thinking. Therefore, how to use this concept to gain profit is the most critical key.

Interesting Video shows how Quickflix woks

References:

Anderson, C. 2008. Excellent HBR piece challenging the Long Tail.
Media Release. 2009. Quickflix in world first Hollywood blockbuster production.
O’Reilly, Tim. (2005). What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software.
Wikipedia. 2010. Long Tail.

Posted in Weekly Research on Web2.0 | 6 Comments

Perpetual Beta – IMVU

Posted on April 25, 2010 by kimi

It is apparent that the Web changes the economics of application development. Applications are now free to improve on a continuous and independent basis. Development cycles that update application code on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis are no longer considered unusual. The phrase “perpetual beta” reflects this phenomenon that software is never “frozen” on the web. As web applications continually improve, continuous release processes allow users to instantaneously benefit.

IMVU is the world greatest 3D instant messenger which is client developed by IMVU Inc. IMVU has reached 40 million registered users, 6 million unique monthly visitors and a $25 million revenue run rate. The service offers a simple, yet impressive 3D environment where users can customize their avatars and rooms, and meet and interact with other people from around the world. IMVU has the world’s largest virtual goods catalog of more than 3 million items, almost all of which are created by its own users. The following picture shows the screenshot of IMVU.

It is stated by the developers of IMVU, “Our tests suite takes nine minutes to run (distributed across 30-40 machines). Our code pushes take another six minutes. Since these two steps are pipelined that means at peak we’re pushing a new revision of the code to the website every nine minutes. That’s 6 deploys an hour. Even at that pace we’re often batching multiple commits into a single test/push cycle. On average we deploy new code fifty times a day.” It is clear that, IMVU is rolling out fifty deployments each and every day, and they are doing so by the magic of Continuous Deployment. So, there is plenty of new creation for users to test and prove. This characteristic can exactly represent the web 2.0 pattern of perpetual beta.

In summary, while perpetual beta is great benefits to users, rapid development cycles can be a challenge for data management. As new application features evolve, data schemas are frequently forced to evolve as well. In the future, flexible data structures and the application patterns will be well designed for life in a world of perpetual beta.

The diagram below shows the unique visitors of IMVU from Compete.
IMVU becomes more and more popular.

You can find a sample video of IMVU here and information about other virtual applications here and here.

References:
Compete. (2010). Unique visitors of IMVU.com. http://siteanalytics.compete.com/imvu.com/?metric=uv
O’Reilly, Tim. (2005). What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software.
Segaran, T., C. Evans and J. Taylor. Programming the Semantic Web. 2009 US: O’Reilly Media.
Wikipedia. (2010). IMVU. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imvu
Wikipedia. (2010). Perpetual Beta. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_beta

Posted in Weekly Research on Web2.0 | 6 Comments

Software Above The Level of A Single Device – eBuddy

Posted on April 18, 2010 by kimi

With the development of modern technologies, web applications are no longer limited to only one access device, such as PC. And applications may become much more valuable when they all connected to each others. Therefore, modern technologies and applications are designed from the get-go to integrate services across handheld devices.

eBuddy is web and mobile messaging for everyone, everywhere and is available in over 30 languages. And eBuddy is a free web based chat application that provides access to your MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, MySpace, Facebook, ICQ and AIM account. To use the web version of eBuddy, all you need is a JavaScript enabled browser on your computer and it works even if you are behind a firewall. If you are on the road, outdoors or traveling, you can use the mobile version of eBuddy to chat with your buddies. Every mobile device supports xHTML or WAP can be used, including a cell phone, PDA, Sony PSP and Nintendo DS. In this way, each kind of device enables chat and information sharing by using eBuddy which represent an excellent example of software above the level of a single device.

eBuddy processes nearly 14 billion messages per month and enables more than 30 million unique monthly visitors to chat in one, aggregated interface across all major IM networks.

eBuddy offers four free mobile IM versions: eBuddy for iPhone and iPod Touch, eBuddy for Android, eBuddy Mobile Messenger (J2ME) and eBuddy Lite Messenger (mobile Web). eBuddy’s premium native application, eBuddy Pro for iPhone and iPod Touch is free and includes additional features. The following picture shows the eBuddy Pro – buddy list.

In brief, ebuddy is pretty popular web application which is associated with web browsers and mobile devices. It works as a kind of media that can link different types of devices. As a consequence, this independent messaging service well characterizes the pattern of Software above the level of a single device.

Interesting video about eBuddy on DS browser:

More information about eBuddy on Wikipedia, please have a look.
More information about Privacy Statement of eBuddy

References:
Alexander, C. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. UK: Oxford University Press.
eBuddy. (2003-2010). About eBuddy. http://www.ebuddy.com/about.php
eBUDDY Secures 5 Million Euro In Series A Funding. (2006). http://www.ebuddy.com/press/eBuddy_Lowland_Capital.pdf
O’Reilly, Tim. (2005). What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software.
Wikipedia. (2010). eBuddy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebuddy

Posted in Weekly Research on Web2.0 | 9 Comments

Rich Internet Applications

Posted on March 28, 2010 by kimi

Traditional network program development is based on the page and the mode of server-side data transmission. It makes the network layer processes built on top of HTML pages. With the development of web applications, the traditional page-based system cannot meet the higher requirements of all-round experience for web users. This issue has been called “Experience Matters” by Macromedia (http://www.adobe.com/special/experience_matters/). However, the emergence of Rich Internet Applications (RIA) is to solve this problem.

Rich Internet applications will be the next generation network applications which can combine interactive desktop application user experience with the traditional Web application. A combination of voice, video and real-time dialogue, integrated communications technology can enable RIAs with an unprecedented online user experience.

Scrapblog (www.scrapblog.com) is an online, flash-based multimedia scrapbook editor. It allows you to quickly combine your images, audio, and video into “scrapblogs”. Scrapblog is created for sharing people’s photo and video online. It is made drag-and-drop easy by the developers so that everyone can tell their stories and create beautiful multimedia scrapbooks. Therefore, Scrapblog is the easiest and most fun way to share and print your photos. With Scrapblog, you can create beautiful and completely one-of-a-kind layouts; share them online with your friends and family, and even print high-quality photo books, greeting cards or postcards. Scrapblog is a typical Rich Internet Application, because the goal of scrapblog is to enable everyday people to express themselves online in a creative way. The editor of scrapblog is designed in an incredibly simple way which is super easy to learn and use. The picture shows the interface of Scrapblog’s editor.

To meet the high requirement of all-round experience for using Scrapblog, it creates several features such as themes, stickers, backgrounds and frames. It is easy for users to employ these characteristics. For further developing the marketplace this Internet application, developers have invited top designers of the scrapbooking world to set up shop inside Scrapblog. It provides endless amounts of high-quality content for purchase. For using Scrapblog, Secure environment is based on some privacy setting. For example, when a user publishes a scrapblog, it can be chose to either make it public or private. If users decide to make it private, users control who has access to it. And it also can be changed a scrapblog’s privacy settings even after publishing.

In brief, from above discussion, it is apparent that Internet applications which can rich much more users’ experience will become more useful and popular. In the future development, some Issues surrounding the development of Rich Internet Applications such as security, standardization and usability may be covered.

Interesting video for Scrapblog, please have a look
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGtDNF7ZiPs

References:
O’Reilly, Tim (2005) What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software. O’Reilly Media.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Internet_application
http://dotdty.blog.163.com/blog/static/466460200771673531534/

Posted in Weekly Research on Web2.0 | 8 Comments

Innovation in Assembly

Posted on March 21, 2010 by kimi

With the development of modern technologies, different kinds of application programming interface (API) are brought in Web 2.0 applications. API is an interface which aims to enable interaction with other software. A flexible website platform may facilitate data assembly and sharing. Consequently, API always fosters the innovation of developers themselves and third party developers.

Fotolia is the first worldwide social marketplace for royalty free stock images, allowing individuals and professionals to legally buy and share stock images and illustrations. As of October 2008, Fotolia had more than 800,000 members who had uploaded more than 4.2 million photographs and graphic illustrations. Fotolia has created an open Application Programming Interface (API). This API has made it possible for creative people to earn more money through affiliation (Partner API), to integrate Fotolia to your products or services (Business API) or to build applications (software, plugins, widgets) to simply improve the Fotolia experience (Developer API). There are so many possibilities. Fotolia provide the tools, now users can create the masterpiece.

Fotolia API services:

Partner API
Business API
Developer API
Reseller API

In order to use the API, you need an API key. The API key is required to do any query through the API. You can get an API key by going to the “Toolbox” section of your account and completing the API form. There are two examples of using Fotolia API services.

The Partner API allows people to create their own image bank and earn money through our affiliation program. With the API, users can search the Fotolia database, display results on their own websites, and generate revenue through our affiliation program.

The Developer API allows a creative person to design new applications such as modules, plugins, software, web services, or widgets. The API can also help to build a product or service to enhance or change the Fotolia user experience.

From the example of Fotolia, it is clear that Web 2.0 applications support web development by providing API services. It allows the combination of multiple services into new applications. As a consequence, API services could drive innovation from third party developers to contributing web applications.

References:

Posted in Weekly Research on Web2.0 | 4 Comments

Data is the next “Intel Inside”

Posted on March 14, 2010 by kimi

In this week, we have concentrated on anther pattern of web 2.0 applications which is “Data is the next Intel Inside”. It states that data plays the most important role for the websites. Some of web 2.0 applications, such as eBay, Amazon and Google, gain lots of competitive advantages from their data strategy. In order to discuss the web 2.0 applications pattern of Data is the next “Intel Inside”, “Shopnics.com” (www.shopnics.com) will be introduced in the following paragraphs.

In our lives, sometimes people are not able to make a decision to buy something such as a camera. Although people can search some information of products from popular websites, however it is still hard to choose. Because that there are plenty of options.

Shopnics.com is a product comparison shopping engine aiming to help users easily and quickly find products based on their needs. Shopnics.com not only has a great deal of data about some kinds of electronics products on its website, but also represents data in a smart way by using graph which is named “Shopnics Decision Graph”. The data on Shopnics.com website are collected by two ways. One is from developers of Shopnics.com website. And another way of collecting products data or information is from users’ contribution.

On one hand, Shopnics.com mainly focuses on electronics products. And developers collected detailed data and information for all production on the website. Furthermore, they managed all the data and applied the knowledge in the field of Artificial Intelligence to come up with the algorithm to find the best decision. A Shopnics Decision Graph is shown below for search of laptop.

Once, click on the bubble to see details and on “More Info” link to check prices from different vendor and other open data about the product. On the “Refine” tag, it is smart to filter users’ choices by specifying different sources.

On the other hand, users can leave a comment about specific product in order to provide some information or suggestion for other buyers or users. And users can flexibly change product rankings base on data or features to them.

In brief, Shopnics.com shows the ability of collecting data and controlling data. “Shopnics Decision Graph” is a brilliant and unique design that focuses on classifying data and providing wide ranges of website services. Developers of Shopnics.com try their best to maximum open data as strategic assets, because they realize that data is the most significant element for contributing a web 2.0 application. Finally, by using the example of Shopnics.com, it is apparent that data has already become the core component of web 2.0 application.

References:

<1> Shopnics introduction http://www.crunchbase.com/company/shopnics

<2> Sir Tim Talks Up Linked Open Data Movement http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3753646

<3>Open Data: Small Pieces Loosely Joined by O’Reilly, Tim http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_61779_1%26url%3D

Posted in Weekly Research on Web2.0 | 2 Comments

Harnessing Collective Intelligence

Posted on March 7, 2010 by kimi

The web 2.0 applications have eight core patterns, and the first pattern we discussed in the past few days is Harnessing Collective Intelligence. The phrase “Harnessing Collective Intelligence”, which was mentioned by Tim O’Reilly, is a highly effective method that users add valuable content to Internet applications. Harnessing Collective Intelligence forms architecture of participation to collect information both implicitly and explicitly.

In this post, the web 2.0 application of Simler will be discussed.

Simler is a social messaging service that connects you with other like-minded people. It was conceived and designed in Salt lake City, UT-then lovingly built in Portland. Somewhere, Simler sounds like making friends through the website. Actually, people use it to share information.

On one hand, Simler’s users explicitly make contribution by posting tags, adding comments and creating posts. In order to give users the most flexibility, Simler does not post any topics or tags by itself, tag creation is totally user-generated. It is all about users’ contribution and interaction. It is easy for users to create new tags and search old tags. For example, in the “Tags” section of the main menu, there is an option to “Create New Tags”. Type the new tag that you would like to create in the input field and press return.

On the other hand, Simler implicitly gathers information on how its users are using it site and relaying this back to them in a worthwhile way. The “Tag Directory” in the Simler site motivates participation effectively. And it categorises tags into different topics and also show the number of posts and comments.

In addition, Simler has a minimum age limit of 18 years old to protect younger users from more adult-oriented content. It is considerable to let younger users on the system when Simler has the appropriate tools for parents to protect their children.

In brief, Simler is an interactive web 2.0 application which represents the pattern of Harnessing Collective Intelligence. Simler provides platforms or communities for people who have common interest to interact with each other.It motivates participation of its users in order to make its site great.