Bonnie Cao's Profile

Thanks Kunal. But I think it is a chicken and egg question. Orbital Insight’s data creates higher value in regions where ground reality-checks are hard or even impossible, e.g. North Korea or Iran. In addition, filling the oil tanks with water is costly in terms of both time and money. It might not be very feasible. But I agree, some level of accuracy cross check is definitely needed.

Orbital Insight sells its data and analysis to hedge fund companies as commodity traders need such data to put on bets. Since OI’s data releases much earlier than the government’s, it will give investors a big headstart.

Hey Dan! Another great post about the media industry! I’m curious to see your comments on @Venkat’s blog who also wrote about New York Time’s VR efforts. I agree with @Carolin that VR-powered stories are costly to produce. As many other media make their foray to VR, why would readers still watch NYT stories? Readers like to read NYT stories is one thing, but the VR version is another. TV networks are much better in image production and live coverage.

Very interesting post! Big thumb up for the incredible VR stories that NYT did. As far as I know, many media organizations are trying the VR technology. Once the New York Times loses the first mover advantage, what’s the next? The paper has been losing money, while its digital ad revenue also fell last year. Developing VR is very costly. I’m not sure if it will improve the paper’s financials.

What a coincidence! Both of us wrote about the VR application in shopping. In my research of VR shopping, one concern loomed. The production of VR headsets fell way behind the development of platforms or headsets. I wonder if ShelfZone develops its own VR headsets or partners with a manufacturer. At the end of the day, the headset shortage will affect the sales of ShelfZone, won’t it?

Not sure if you realized that a student in section 1 wrote a post on how the 538 failed the prediction. Curious to see your response on that post. On top of the non-response bias, I will actually question the raw polling data. People who they poll are not necessarily those actually voted.

It is definitely interesting. I’m just curious about the value capture part. Do they partner with fitbit and share the data? Am also interested in the focus group they select. Are fitbit users representative of the overall population?

Cool post. If I remember correctly, it is the second post on media and journalism you wrote this semester. 🙂

The media industry is definitely undergoing tremendous changes. In fact, not only the Huffington Post, a lot of other online media are adopting the similar digital strategies. As a journalist, I could help but wonder whether the digital approach will kill the creativity in writing. A lot of stories are written by robots these days. They follow certain metrics to mass produce standardized news bulletins. And furthermore, do we just write to pander the readers so they can stay in the story as long as possible? (Maybe you think I’m like those scouts in the soccer club case.)

It is indeed a very interesting thought. Just a quick question. Do you think we could build on the existing apps to leverage the crowds? E.g. Meetup, or Wechat has a shaking function which helps users nearby. Or it will be an app or site completely innovative and new?

Interesting. I’m actually still not quite convinced that it’s the crowdsourcing. It is the age of the citizen journalism as everyone can be a journalist. Seems it is the Dutch version of the Huffington Post, where almost everyone can publish articles. I’m wondering how the website capture value. How much is the membership fee? Or do they have to rely on ads as the traditional newspapers do?

Yeah, the biggest news of the month in the crowdsourcing industry is probably Google’s acquisition of Kaggle. I’m curious about the implication of the deal on crowdsourcing. Google used to run competitions with Kaggle, but now they are crowdsourcing themselves. Do you think the acquisition is more about Kaggle’s community than technology?

Very interesting company. Just curious if you know the company is profitable yet? A lot of platforms also seem to claim that they are artist-friendly, but fail to attract transaction. Artists either still sell through their own websites or Amazon. Do you think Etsy will go mobile in the near future?

Cool post. I didn’t know that Chunyu set up an international division. But I understand many insurance companies, e.g. Cigna, also have similar “second opinion” services for their Chinese customers. Sounds like they are making a move to an already pretty developed market. Plus, competition in China’s online med market is fierce. What do you think has made Chunyun stand out among competitors? Btw, it was so unfortunate that its founder Zhang Rui passed away last year at such a young age. Just curious if you think the company will make any changes to its strategies in the post-Zhang era?

Great post. I couldn’t help thinking: isn’t it similar to the SF Express v.s. Alibaba case that we discussed in class? Is it possible that UPS could partner with FedEx or DHL to compete with Amazon? Also, UPS faces the same challenges that SF Express had: How can it leverage the logistics networks to do e-commerce?

This is a very interesting company. A number of insurance companies also sell their products online. I am just wondering whether IDI’s business model is easy to copy. How does IDI face copycats and competition from rivals?

Great post. I agree with you that Amazon is an overall winner in the e-commerce business. But it’s been very difficult for Amazon to break into some of the emerging markets such as China. Will its business model work in terms of competing with strong local rivals such as Alibaba?

Great blog post. I’m just wondering how Wiki makes money. It seems that the website still struggles financially. Is the donation big enough to cover the operation and capital costs? Would you please elaborate a bit more on its business model? BTW, I love your display name.