Yi Xie's Profile

Nice post Kevin. I remember the experience playing the first few RE’s as a kid and from that experience, I don’t think I’ll be playing this new VR version anytime soon. This makes me wonder, with the ability for the entire horror genre to use VR, I wonder what effect it will have on future generations. Either they will be so desensitized to horror and not flinch, or they will all be scarred for life.

Really cool post! I heard about VR in sports as well. It seems like this is a popular field for simulating alternative environments. I wondered about the applicability of AR here as well. Imagine bionic athletes who could see running speeds or fatigue levels of their teammates. Not sure if it’s useful since it would alter the game, but there might be some training applications.

Nice post! I wonder if this will make it difficult for smaller museums who rely more on their marketing to attract customers. For example, I can think of many museums where I was disappointed by the collection and vowed to not return. Using VR to tour these place would enable prescreening. People would then likely visit only the ones that look the most appealing in person. On the flip side, if a smaller museum doesnt adopt VR, then future generations may never hear about them, since they will expect all the good places to have VR enabled exhibits.

Great post Yuval! I remember a class last semester where the CEO of a consulting company came to class and a student brought up the company’s poor Glassdoor rating. The CEO was quick to dismiss the entire community calling it “a place where only people with problems go to vent”. There may be some truth to that since many online communities have the same problem. I wonder if Glassdoor is actively trying to create a more balanced ecosystem of reviews? After all, they are counting on companies paying for job postings. The more “undesirable” companies, the less revenue potential.

Amazing post Yun. More than a few laughs from that one. As for the business, I wonder where they are headed. I remember when the site had a clandestine feeling to it. Now its arguably more appealing, but also more catered towards the interest of the masses. I think twice about featured posts since they may not be the best deal, but the ones that gave the best affiliate rate. Hopefully they are able to grow while staying true to their roots!

Nicely written post. I grapple with why companies struggle to account for trolls in risk mitigation strategies. After the highly public crowdsourcing failures of Mountain Dew and Boaty McBoatface, you would think companies would exercise more control. Part of the solution may be acknowledging the distinction between public vs private crowdsourcing. While not equal, private crowdsourcing could provide much more control. Like you said, a reduced test size for Tay would have allowed for learning without the public backlash.

Interesting article about a company outside the US! Its interesting that they cut out the fee for restaurants. I remember hearing that with two-sided markets, the supply side is always the harder one to build. It sounds like they grappled with that issue and found no choice but to offer it for free. Going forward, I wonder where they will capture value. Grubhub used a pay-for-placement model where restaurants paid to be ranked higher, but switched to a cost-per-transaction model after restaurants complained. Its likely they lured restaurants in with the freemium model, and then activated the transaction costs after restaurants saw value in the service.

Amazon is a great example of a company that was born during the dawn of the digital age. Whats really interesting is that although they have been selling books online for more than 20 years, they recently started to migrate into physical retail, the very space they disrupted. Their new bookstores are a physical representation of their online store, with books facing cover up, cards with reviews, and omni-channel purchasing options (physical, online, kindle, audiobook). This may all be a grand experiment, but it shows that digital hasn’t quite replaced the desire to touch and browse a book that a traditional store offers.

Definitely agree that the business model is questionable. Personally, I’ve never felt compelled to return to a place I used Groupon/Living Social at. This begs the question though, why would Groupon buy Living Social? Their business models were the same and they both suffered the same fate. Even if Groupon could realize cost savings + additional customers, the vicious cycle will continue. Groupon probably could have put that money to better use by pivoting their business model.