I just read EMI's announcement on the release of Qtrax - an ad- and subscription-supported peer-to-peer music distribution service. Let's analyze this announcement piece by piece.

"Qtrax will offer two tiers of service: the first is a free, advertising-supported tier designed to work with and filter copyrighted content from existing peer-to-peer networks. The second tier is a premium subscription service which will require a monthly fee."

Alright, so far so good. Despite my dislike for advertisements in software, the music service sounds good so far.

"In the ad-supported, free tier, users will be able to search the network for specific tracks, and those tracks registered with Qtrax will be made available for download in Qtrax’s proprietary “.mpq” file format. Users will then be able to play the downloaded .mpq file in full-fidelity sound quality for a pre-defined number of times."

Oh no!!! Not another proprietary file format. This means that I will need to use a proprietary program to listen to downloaded music and that I can't play them on my iPod. Worse, you can only play each downloaded music for limited number of times.

"The premium subscription service tier uses Microsoft’s Janus DRM technology, which allows consumers to pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to music in the Qtrax network. Subscribers will also have the ability to transfer content to Windows Media enabled portable devices for as long as the subscription stays active."

Let me get this straight... I don't own the music but rent them? In other words, the downloaded music is only good as long as I keep paying for them.

I am also curious if I can burn my downloaded music to a CD so that I can listen to it on my CD player in my car? If the service is peer-to-peer, does it mean any songs that I am looking for are subjected to availability of these songs from peers who share them?

A week ago, I made a brief assertion that convenience is an impetus for the adoption of a technological innovation or product. Certainly, any product that makes life easier for the consumers will most likely be successful. After reading the article, I can't help but to think that Qtrax business model is doomed for failure. Why so? It seems more trouble than it is worth.

6/8/2006 4:34:29 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [6]

Business

It seems like almost everyone whom I know prior to MIT and are under 30 years of age are engaged in some sort of graduate program the past years. I don't know if the trend of going back to graduate schools - part-time or full-time - was the result of the excellent academic environment that are available in Boston or that these young professionals are motivated in improving their skill sets to further their careers in today's highly competitive economy. In any case, it seems like 2006 is the year when they are all graduating from their respective programs.

Just this month alone, I have already attended 3 graduation ceremonies. Earlier in May, Eimear, Paul, Joe, Vernon, and Blanche (the Analog Devices crew) graduated from Northeastern University - with the exception of Vernon who obtained a M.Sc in Information Technology, the rest graduated with a M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering. Next in line was Siobhan who graduated from NYU Stern School of Business with an M.B.A. I can't believe that 2 years have passed since she left Boston for bigger and better things in the Big Apple. Steve, another mover and shaker, left Boston to pursue a Law degree at St. John's University Law School in New York City 3 years ago. He, too, graduated from his program 2 days ago. Scarvel will be graduating from Harvard Extension School tomorrow.

Last but not least, there are those whom I know from various departments at MIT (from SDM to TPP to LFM to Course 3). Many of them will be graduating this Friday. In particular, I can't believe that almost half of the SDM cohort whom I started the program with last January will be graduating from the program this Friday. It has been a pleasure work with them and I am little sad to see them leave. I am pleased that many will be leaving for better careers after MIT. Regretfully, I wasn't able to get tickets for the commencement - those tickets are so hard to come by. I hope to join them at the post-graduation reception and see them one last time.

Once again, congratulations and best wishes to all graduates!!!

6/7/2006 11:56:08 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [3]

School

After catering my sushi craving, it was time to satisfy my rock music hankering. I grew up listening and liking the music of The Police, The Clash, and Blondie; and had always wanted to visit CBGB, a live music club in NYC that hosted these artists.

Brian and I arrived at CBGB at around 9:30pm. After paying $10 for the cover charge, we went into the club. I was actually quite surprise how big the place as I am too used to the live music clubs in Boston/Cambridge, which are typically smaller than their counterparts in NYC. Not surprisingly, the inside was dark, which is what I would expect from a club. While smoking is now banned from all bars and restaurants in NYC, I still feel an indisputable smoky aura (it's just the presence, there was no smoke inside) from the place. The walls are filled with band stickers, decals, and graffiti. Of course, the performing stage takes center stage in CBGB. Yep, there is definitely a presence of iconoclasm in the walls of CBGB, as well as buzz of energy from the stage.

That night, several of bands took stage with each band playing for 30 minutes starting from 7pm. You'll see band members jamming their musical instruments hard and songs bursting at the seams with riffs and drum beating. I seen a number of punk live performances before and all the craziness associated with them; nonetheless I am still amazed how these rockers while jumping and banging their head senselessly don't collide with one another on stage. Of all the bands who played that night, there were two who left lasting impression on me. An all-women band whose name I forgot and The Mercurial whose the lead singer's dynamic vocals and stage presence energized the audience and brought the music performance that night to a whole new level. Yeah, CBGB has live up to its name that night. Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed. I definitely going back to CBGB in a not-so-distant-future.

The outside of CBGB	The band The Mercurial

6/6/2006 1:55:24 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [2]

Travels

I mentioned the Sushi Nazi and CBGB in my previous blog postings. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to eat at the Sushi Nazi or experience the great rock buzz that is CBGB until last Saturday when I was in New York City to attend Steve's commencement from St. John's University Law School.

Even before arriving in NYC, I was been shamelessly promoting to my buddy Brian that we go to the Sushi Nazi and CBGB. Thankfully, Brian was more than willing to comply with my wishes. Unlike the last time, we arrived at the sushi place with a vacant table available. The same waitress was, once again, adamant that we wait outside and will not sit us until the table is fully clean. I feel a little bad calling this sushi place Sushi Nazi; but if the food there is of any good the name Sushi Nazi should be a compliment, much in the same lineage as the the Soup Nazi character in Seinfeld. Nonetheless, I finally learned the real name of the sushi eatery when I got the menu from the waitress. It is call Tab Tos. Once we were seated, the waitress was actually quite attentive and pleasant. Brian ordered a set meal, which consists of a big bowl (and I mean big) of salad and a sushi roll. I sampled Brian's salad, which is consisted of a generous portion of avocado slices, corn, and a rich mixture of salad greens (lettuce, arugula, etc), all mixed with a very delicious vinaigrette. The salad doesn't taste very Japanese but it definitely has a creative twist to it and it was very tasty. For me, I ordered a sushi box set, which consisted of a large bowl of miso soup, a Philadelphia roll, 2 slices of salmon sashimi, and 2 slices of eel sashimi. I really enjoyed my bowl of miso soup as I was intrigued by the taste of watercress and miso - I didn't know that watercress blends so well with miso. Their sushi may not be as spectacular as those that one gets from hyper-expensive sushi restaurant but then again freshness, a hallmark of great sushi, often comes at a premium. I like their Philadelphia roll as it has the right mixture of cream cheese, tuna, and cucumber that I found very satisfying. Best of all, both dishes cost less than $10. This hole in the wall called Tab Tos (Sushi Nazi) still a great place for inexpensive uncompromising sushi and salads.

6/6/2006 1:54:39 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [0]

Food

Here's a picture of Earth taken by the Mars Rover:

Source: NASA

6/5/2006 5:52:40 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [0]

Technology

I love talking to my good friend, Camille, about product development and marketing. He is a product manager/engineer and his insights in this subject are always valuable. Today, during lunch we talked about the next media format battle: Blu-Ray Disc versus HD DVD. Camille said the following, which I thought made a lot of sense: "What determines which format will win in any format battle is convenience, not technical superiority or price. Think about it, between CD and vinyl records, customers chose CD at the end not because they offer better sound quality but for the convenience of not having to use the needle. Likewise, MP3 and iPod became super popular not because MP3 sounds better, but because MP3 is a great format for storing massive amount of data in one small device. Again, it is all about convenience."

Because we digressed some much from our conversation afterwards, we didn't have the chance to finish our discussion on the next dominant DVD format. But I subscribe to Camille's notion that consumers will always look for solutions that are most convenient for them. One can argue that in VHS vs. Betamax, VHS won because it was conveniently easy to buy VHS players and VHS tapes. In Laserdisc vs. DVD, DVD won because of it is conveniently smaller to handle than Laserdisc.

In continuing my thoughts on the topic of Blu-ray disc versus HD DVD, I think one of the most compelling features of HD DVD is that it is backwards compatible with existing DVDs. In other words, HD DVD players can play both HD DVD and DVD discs. In fact, there's a hybrid HD DVD that allows the disc to be played in a DVD player or HD DVD player. On the DVD player, only DVD information will be played. Furthermore, HD DVDs can be manufactured using the same fabrication process as that of CDs and DVDs, making HD DVDs relatively cheaper to produce than Blu-Ray Discs. So far, from most of the literature that I have read about HD DVD and Blu-Ray discs, it seems to me that it is more convenient for me to adopt HD DVD than Blu-Ray disc. On the contrary, will consumers appreciate the convenience of a higher storage capacity that Blu-Ray discs offer? Moreover, while the specifications for Blu-ray drive don't call for backwards compatibility with DVD, some manufacturers, like Samsung, have been developing Blu-ray drives that do. Both formats currently have about the amount of support from the industry. I think if the Sony PS3 and HDTV take off in the next two years, Blu-ray will emerge as winner. Otherwise, the future will be HD DVD. Ultimately, I think it is hard to predict which format will win; but I have a hunch that, like DVD+R versus DVD-R, the whole format compatibility becomes a non-issue as future DVD players will support both formats.

5/31/2006 4:36:24 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [0]

Technology

Another awesome weekend, staying at home and mostly relaxing. In the tradition of Memorial Day Weekend, I have been grilling non-stop since Friday. My time spent at the grill was well worth it as I experimented with a few new recipes and most of them turned out well. Particularly, grilled mahi-mahi, thyme encrusted sirloin steak, and grilled vegetables with champagne vinegar were delicious.

Apart from food, I read the current and past issues of the Economist and BusinessWeek, worked on my thesis proposal, caught up with my emails, ran, and the highlight of my weekend (other than grilling), playing the computer game, Civilization IV. I am feeling super-rested after this weekend.

5/29/2006 11:56:26 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [1]

Personal

Since 2001, the MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) initiative has been offering free and open access to the institution's courses on the Internet. The level of access varies considerably among different courses on the MIT OCW website. There are several courses that offer nothing more than just the course syllabus, reading list, and assignments; but there many courses that offer the entire package including streaming video lectures. As a student at MIT, I find the MIT OpenCourseWare extremely useful in helping me to prepare for exams or homework assignments. Today, many fine institutions around the world have adopted the OpenCourseWare initiative in opening their course content to the public. Some notable OCW spin-offs include:

• China Quality OCW - Links to course content from major universities in China
• ParisTech OCW - Links to course content from ParisTech, a consortium of French engineering institution (mostly science and engineering)
• Japan OCW - Links to course content from a consortium of Japanese universities
• Tufts OCW - Links to Tufts University course content (new site with mostly medical and dental courses)
• USU OCW - Links to Utah State University course content
• JHSPH OCW - John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health OpenCourseWare (plenty of health care related content)

While OpenCourseWare may be the pioneer, it is not the only project that publish course materials on the Web. Similar projects like the ones listed below have sprung up in recent years:

• UC Berkeley Podcasts/Webcasts - one of my favorite e-Learning sites offering videocasts and podcasts of UC Berkeley courses. Top-notch!!!
• Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative (OLI) - still very new. Not much content yet
• Rice University Connexions - an open-content library of course materials developed by Rice University
• Duke University Math Dept. Video Archive - covering lectures and seminars from the Math Department of Duke University

One thing to keep in mind is that none of the websites that I have mentioned are part of an online degree-granting program. But still, I often wonder if the willing dissemination of knowledge by universities from North America to France to Japan to people around the world constitutes a threat or an opportunity to the universities that publish them. Surely these universities can start charging a premium for such content and run a business model of distance-learning similar to that of the University of Phoenix or Devry University. Clearly, the expansion of the OpenCourseWare model to other universities has only demonstrated that many world-class universities do not feel threaten by embracing such practice. There must be something more in the educational process than just course content. Personally, I believe that while I can self-taught myself with many of the materials that are available from these fine websites, I don't think I can never replace it with the human factor. For me, there is no substitute for being on campus, learning and interacting with faculty and fellow students. There is something about being physically present in an environment that foster learning. Lastly, there are the trials and tribulations of homework assignments, term projects, and exams - pressure and deadlines do reinforce learning.

I think that OpenCourseWare and other similar projects have allowed universities return back its fundamental mission of providing higher education to the public. To educators (according to Wikipedia), such tools are and should be used to improve the teaching methods and to collaborate with scholars from around the world. To current students or self-learners, the OpenCourseWare is a great way to supplement one's learning. To the general public, the OpenCourseWare model is a great way for people to access the wealth of knowledge that they won't be able to otherwise. In ending, kudos to universities in making their education materials free and accessible.

5/27/2006 5:36:46 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [1]

School

I have always been a fan of Paul Graham's essays on entrepreneurship. His recent essay entitled "How to be Silicon Valley" is a sobering paper that starts off with an interesting question: "Could you reproduce Silicon Valley elsewhere, or it there something unique about it?" He concluded the main reason Silicon Valley is what it is today is due to a sustained partnership between rich people and nerds. He also mentioned that many of today's highly successful companies in Silicon Valley were derived directly or indirectly from one stellar technological breakthrough in the 1950's - William Shockley's invention of the transistor. But the essay isn't written solely about Silicon Valley, it also highlights some of Paul's opinions on why Boston attracts a certain type of people (namely nerds). Having lived in Boston for the past 10 years, I certainly subscribe to Graham's theses about Boston and the people the city attracts.

5/26/2006 1:08:08 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [0]

Entrepreneurship

Listen to any conversation about the Internet these days and you will hear terms like bittorrent, IM, wikis, and blogs. Today, a new generation of websites and software (collectively called social software) presents more than a mere web content on the browser. Indeed, social websites and software have enabled the next stage of the digital age evolution by enabling people to rendezvous and connect through Internet. Indeed, this phenomenon is observed by the numerous online communities, ranging from Wikipedia to Del.icio.us, that have sprouted all over the Internet in recent years.

Here are some of the social websites that I personally use on a regular basis:

• Wikipedia. Encyclopedia reference. You should know by now that I am a huge fan of Wikipedia and almost all my hyperlinks are directly referenced to Wikipedia.
• Del.icio.us - General url bookmarking and sharing. By the way, it is pronounced as "delicious," remove the periods and you will know what I meant.
• YouTube - Video bookmarking and sharing.
• Last.fm - Music bookmarking and sharing.
• PeanutButterWiki - Start your own wiki. It's free and incredibly easy to use (like making a peanut butter sandwich).
• Blogger - Start your own blog. It's free and easy to use.
• LinkedIn - Online social networking for professionals.
• Slashdot - Technology news.

Here are some social websites that I been dying to try:

• Digg - an alternative to Slashdot. Its coverage on technology news seem broader than that of Slashdot.
• Flickr - Photo bookmarking and sharing. I wonder if there's a simple way to upload my pictures from iPhoto to the site.

All this said and done, what was my motivation for writing this blog entry? Well, today I was asked to explain social bookmarking and wiki to a friend. My response to him was to watch for the posting of this blog entry on my blog.

Also, do let me know if you have any interesting sites that may have missed.

5/25/2006 4:31:34 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [2]

Internet

WBUR is currently running a series entitled "Boston @ the Crossroads" that focuses on the social, economic, and academic factors that have shaped and are shaping Boston economic competitiveness. Interestingly, former MIT $100k (formerly $50k) winners were mentioned on part 3 of the series.

5/24/2006 4:15:19 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [1]

Radio

My body is in pain today. I ran yesterday for the very first time after a month long of sedentary activities. Funny, I was reminded of the Boston Marathon during the run yesterday. When I was about to start the stopwatch at the beginning of my run yesterday, I saw the exact time that was last taken from my Boston Marathon run a month ago. Indeed, that was the last time I ran.

Speaking of the Boston Marathon, I took plenty of pictures during the Boston Marathon last month. But due to my busy schedule at school (my favorite excuse), I have been deferring the transfer of the pictures from my camera to the computer for the entire month. No longer, another consequence of the ending of the school semester is that I have finally run of excuse to procrastinate. So those pictures were finally transferred to my computer last night. Here is a sample of the pictures:

Cowman marathoner	Live bands
A water station	Half way mark, right after Wellesley College
7 miles to go, Heartbreak Hill	3.2 miles to go, Brookline, MA
0.2 miles to go, final dash	The finish line

5/24/2006 1:07:26 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [1]

Sports

Finally, a blog entry from me... I have been so busy in school the past month that I simply don't have the time or the motivation to blog. Now that the school semester is over, I will devote more of my time to blog.

Reflecting back on the past semester, it has been a roller-coaster ride. It has been my toughest semester yet. Yep, 3-4 hours of sleep during the week is typical. I never had all-nighters back when I was an undergrad; but last semester I had 3 all-nighters. I still feeling very drained from all the hard work from the last semester but it sure feels good that the burden has been lifted from my shoulders. The feeling of not rushing from one thing to another is a huge relief for my sanity. For the first time this year, last weekend was spent not catching up on things but relaxing without guilt and remorse for not studying and doing homework. Despite the insane workload and schedule, I actually enjoyed the experience as all the courses that I took are the electives that I am really interested. I gained a lot of valuable insights, knowledge, and skills that will be mostly helpful in my career in the future.

So the scorecard now reads: 4 semesters down and 2 more to go. To date, I have taken more than enough classes to graduate. All I have to do now in order to graduate by the end of the year is to produce 1 thesis in the summer and to take 2 courses for TPP in the fall. I might pick up 1 or 2 additional classes in soft skills like negotiation, communication, or even a foreign language this fall to complement the hard, analytical subjects that I have taken so far.

In the last 7 years I have devoted too much of my time pursuing higher-learning and building credentials. It is time to start applying the skills and knowledge that I have acquired in the real world. Therefore, I have decided that won't be going back to school as a student anymore. Appropriately, it is time to relax a little and enjoy my last 6 months as a student (ever) at MIT.

5/24/2006 12:14:01 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [0]

School