PixPulse Your LIfe!

Funny outsource post I found on Craigslist

2007-11-29T16:22:00.000-08:00

Outsource Needed!

Reply to: gigs-487646658@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-11-23, 9:20PM PST

I am a very busy person and I am looking for a company to out source my online dating. Your task will be to contact potential dates for me via various online dating services and social networking sites. I will let you know my background and my preferences of dates and you will contact people matching my preferences.

I will pay for each successful dates that has been scheduled. Please contact me for more details. Thank you.

Location: Los Angeles
it's ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
Compensation: I will pay for each successful dates that has been scheduled.

PostingID: 487646658

My New Puppy Rocky

2007-11-11T14:40:00.000-08:00

So I just got a puppy Friday night. Poor guy had to fly from DCA ->ATL -> SEA. About 7 hours of flying. I picked him up from Delta Air Cargo. Puppies are A LOT of work, but I've been told it was worth it. So two things.

1. Little dude barks/cries a lot when I'm not there--separation anxiety.
2. Still needs to be house broken--I'm trying to teach him to use a litter box.

Other than that he's a good boy! His ears got cropped last week, so they are still bandaged up, but are starting to stand up nicely.

My rant on DST

2007-11-05T16:37:00.000-08:00

Every year I don't look forward to DST. It's just plain dumb and outdated, but no one is going to change it because there's no incentive or carrot to make this change politically. I'm not sure was it was for originally (WWII, farmers, electricity savings etc), but the USA and western europe should just drop it.

It's also much safer to have light out til dark and save more lives. Maybe time to move to Asia or Afrika :)

My Likes

2007-10-06T10:47:00.000-07:00

Here are my current top favs:

1. SprintPCS SERO Plans - I'm paying $50 + tax for what normally would cost $90 + tax.
2. Macbook Pro - Just makes my life easier (although the paint off my keys and laptop are scraping off)
3. Entourage on HBO - AMAZING show, probably the best show I've seen on TV
4. Mercedes and Audi Cars - The AMG 63 engine is amazing (55 was amazing too), then the new Audi's coming out have been nice (R8).
5. Washington summers - but that's gone now...

Summer!

2007-07-27T10:45:00.000-07:00

Gosh, haven't posted in a long time. I'm not a big blogger. It would be great if I could put aside an hour a day and write a really thoughtful blog every morning.

So....what's been going on. Mostly PixPulse has me slammed. Hired 3 more employees the past week and still need to hire more.

Housing market has slowed up quite a bit--this is not 2005 anymore! Which is a bummer since I have two homes on the market now.

Cheers! and happy August everyone!!! My favourite month of the year! Too bad no down time for me this year. Here' s funny photo of a limo beached in SF:

My Unhappiness with Macbook Pro

2007-05-02T16:14:00.000-07:00

I've had my Macbook pro for about 100 days now--it is the 15" Core 2 Duo with upgraded 2gig ram. Here are my gripes:

1. Two hardware defects: The "F1" key is lower than all the other keys (probably just a $14 fix for the white backing to the key). The backlight of the LCD is partly broken and has a vertical dark strip in the middle and causes the laptop to buzz. This is fixed by turning on brightness to maximum and waiting 10 or so minutes.

2. My biggest gripe is that the bottom edge of the laptop case cuts into my wrist/arms and this really hurts. I have to use a wrist rest all the time--an no, this is not because of my posture or my chair being too low.

3. My laptop doesn't come out of sleep. After I login, I get a black dark screen so I have to put my laptop to sleep and try again.

4. The laptop runs really really slow. All the normal MSFT and Adobe programs run shit slow. My last laptop was a 1.4ghz Intel Centrino with 1.5g ram and it ran many programs faster. Another small gripe is that I like more tactile keys that press down more, but this is just more of a personal preference.

Ok, that's the end of my rant. There are definitely positives to using the Mac like installing programs is much easier than a PC, widget are great, etc.

Update

2007-04-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

I just noticed that when you type in my name "David Xue" on Google this comes up as the #1 search result. Which probably means that I probably need to update this a bit more often with more useful and relevant information.

As my family and friends are very aware, PixPulse takes up the majority of my time and the team here is having a lot of fun. We've been working on some very cool technology at PixPulse and have signed up quite a few new customers. We're able to deliver on key value for social media communities and mobile commerce.

I'll try and update this blog as much as possible, but quite honestly I'm not much of a blogger but it will be a mix of PixPulse, real estate development, and my personal life.

Check out my new real estate project on MLS.

PixPulse.com blocked in China?

2007-03-09T20:54:00.000-08:00

Found a site on Alexa tonight. Test out your site and see if it's blocked in China: http://www.greatfirewallofchina.org/

2007 Mercedes G320 CDI ???

2007-02-12T00:08:00.000-08:00

I've been waiting on this car forever (either white or black)! Looks like they won't be bringing any diesels to the US until 2008 or maybe even 2009--who knows. Perhaps being stuck with a G55K is not so bad after all :)

I'm a New Apple Convert

2007-01-12T15:27:00.000-08:00

I just got a new Apple Macbook Pro 15" Core 2 Duo this week to replace my old Sharp M4000 laptop (great Windows laptop btw). After just a few hours I can say that Macs ROCK!.

Some must download software for Mac users:

Adium - chatting
VLC - viewing media
Textmate - coding
Camino - browsing
iTerm - SSH
CocoaMySQL - GUI to mysql
Parallels Desktop - VM of Windows so I can test on IE
Toast 8 - creating and mounting ISO or data CDs
CoreDuo Fan Hack - bump you fan up to 3000 rpm to make your notebook cooler

Then of course the normal production software:
Office 2004 and Adobe CS2.

For web presentations I had to switch from GoToMeeting to GatheringPlace which supports Macs. GatheringPlace is also a cheaper :)

Upcoming Event: Community Next

2007-01-04T12:44:00.000-08:00

I've been to many industry events and spoken at a few as well. I'm sure we agree that there are very few quality events that are really worth your time and money. You spend 8 hours at an event and probably only 30 min is really worthwhile information to your business.

I've been to two of Noah Kagan's Entrepreneur27.org events (I have to fly from SEA to SJC) and can say that they are very good and really hit on the key topics you want to know about. The quality of the people is good as well and you'll come away with real contacts.

Here's the link below and also take a look at the agenda:

What Super Villian Am I?

2007-01-01T16:09:00.000-08:00

Your results:
You are Apocalypse

Apocalypse		86%
Magneto		82%
Dr. Doom		80%
Venom		79%
Lex Luthor		78%
Juggernaut		77%
Kingpin		70%
Green Goblin		69%
Mystique		65%
Dark Phoenix		61%
Mr. Freeze		60%
The Joker		55%
Catwoman		51%
Poison Ivy		44%
Riddler		41%
Two-Face		33%

You believe in survival of the fittest and you believe that you are the fittest.

Click here to take the Super Villain Personality Test

HAPPY 2007 ALL!

Back from Beijing

2006-12-13T21:53:00.000-08:00

I flew back to SFO from PEK yesterday for a business trip. Overall Beijing is a very nice metropolitan city on par with NYC. The city is very big, fairly clean and easy to get around in.

Audi A6L, VW and Buick cars are very popular in China--in fact GM sells for cars in China than in the US (the only reason Buick is still alive is because of China). Food is great as well.

On my time off I visited the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the temple for the emperor (forgot the name), had Peking Duck among other yummy food stuff, and did some shopping in WangFuJing.

I enjoyed my visit a lot and hope to be back soon--I want to visit Shanghai next time as well. My other rant is the there are NO direct flights from SEA to PEK or PVR. I'll post up some photos soon :)

$50+ CPC on Loan Consolidation Clicks

2006-12-01T14:04:00.000-08:00

On a non-PixPulse topic, my friend Mbwana sent me the link of another GSB student's blog. I know that some mortgage comanpanies pay $400 per lead.

Here's the post by Rohin:

Loan Consolidation & Insurance is a Yummy Business
Dudes, below is a listing of the most expensive google keywords. If you click on google ads related to these things, the companies pay around $50 to google. Crazy! I'm going to run an experiment where I start putting google ads on this site to verify if this is true. Shocking, no?

school loan consolidation - $69.16
college loan consolidation - $68.35
car insurance quotes - $66.88
school consolidation - $66.29
auto insurance quotes - $65.90 c
ollege consolidation - $64.04
student loan consolidation rates - $60.14
sell structured settlement - $59.82
sell annuity - $58.92
federal student loan consolidation - $58.58
auto quotes - $58.09
auto insurance quote - $57.99
student consolidation - $56.96
student loan consolidation - $56.91
student loan consolidation interest rate - $56.52
consolidate student loan - $54.61
san diego dui attorney - $54.56
car insurance - $53.16
structured settlement - $52.96
consolidate school loans - $52.88
student loan refinance - $52.44
consolidation of student loans - $52.43
consolidation loan rate - $52.04
citibank student loan consolidation - $51.85
car insurance quote - $51.80
consolidate student loans - $51.23
private student loan consolidation - $51.05
lasik new york - $49.86
student loans consolidation - $49.82
private loan consolidation - $48.95
insurance quotes - $48.78
teleconference services - $48.72
the art institute of seattle - $48.68
federal loan consolidation - $48.61
plus loan consolidation - $47.74
student loan consolidation programs - $47.58
bad credit equity loan - $47.46
houston criminal attorney - $47.44
student loan consolidation calculator - $47.19
cash settlement - $47.12
consolidating student loans - $47.09
orlando culinary institute - $46.84
student loan consolidation program - $46.77
orlando culinary institute - $46.69
consolidation loan - $46.54
loan consolidation - $46.54
ditech - $46.32
auto quote - $45.77
sallie mae student loan consolidation - $45.69

Off to San Fran Again!

2006-11-14T21:52:00.000-08:00

If you're doing a serious startup, you need to be in SF. That's where the talent is and where all the industry events are and money as well :)

PixPulse is the first company to present at the Under the Radar Conference on 11/16.

That evening we'll be going to the DFJ Schmoozefest.

Happy Halloween from PixPulse!

2006-10-31T23:04:00.000-08:00

Photo from PixPulse.com

Email is dead for teens?

2006-10-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

This article confirms what I have found regarding teens and email. They don't use email that much and don't even remember emails to their best friends. I don't even know the emails to all my best friends, but I do remember their IM :)

That's also why I don't have an 'email-a-friend' feature on PixPulse.

Quote from article:

"E-mail isn't dying, but it's grown a little sick. comScore Media Metrix found that in April 2006, teen e-mail use was down 8 percent from a year before. Teens are using IM and MySpace for communication with friends, but they haven't abandoned the tool—that's why 89 percent of teens who use the Internet still use e-mail, while only 75 percent use instant messaging."

PixPulse Invited to Under the Radar | Mobility!

2006-09-29T19:13:00.000-07:00

PixPulse will be at Investor's Business Daily's Under the Radar Conference at the Microsoft Headquarters in Mountain View, CA on November 16th.

CONFIRMED PANELISTS TO DATE:
Motorola, Qualcomm, Microsoft, Orange, Engadget, Rutberg & Co.

Selection Committee:
Each submission will be reviewed by our selection committee, which includes representatives from the IBDNetwork advisory board, Microsoft, August Capital, Qualcomm, Motorola, France Telecom/Orange, Bay Partners, Intel Capital, Panorama Capital, Perkins Coie, SAP, Trident Capital, VantagePoint Venture Partners, WaldenVC, and LewisPR.

The First Annual Wine Taste Off

2006-09-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

Noah Kagan put together a fun event that I attended last night in SF. About 30 entrepreneurs and 30 VCs attended at the TechCrunch house. Some cool companies that attended: CrazyEgg, Event Robot, Doostang, etc...

Check it out here.

Web 2.0 Traffic Watch List from Seth Godin

2006-08-17T17:15:00.000-07:00

An amusing post on 1000 Web 2.0 startups ranked by Alexa. I take Alexa with a grain of salt, but interesting nonetheless.

MMS Usage Up 40% in the US

2006-07-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

From MobHappy:

Messaging company Mobile365 says the number of mobile-originated MMS messages it processed in the US increased 40% from the first to the second quarter, a pretty significant jump. The raw numbers are higher than I’d expected as well, up to 52 million and change in the second quarter. Keep in mind this is just what Mobile365 processed, and doesn’t represent the entire US market (got a message in to the company’s PR folks for some clarification on that Update: Mobile365 processes half of the country’s inter-carrier MMS traffic — so this figure is much more representative than it is comprehensive).

m:metrics is another mobile analyst company that I use to get good data.

MySpace to Secondary Markets: Drop Dead

2006-07-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

This just came out this week. Interesting stuff... MySpace will not allow external URL linking on Flash 9.

Best of ITALY goals!

2006-07-07T01:39:00.000-07:00

MySpace Video Hits Back

2006-07-04T00:17:00.000-07:00

Mashable has a cool post on stats for MySpace Vidoes--looks like they are gaining on YouTube pretty quick.

Have a fun and safe 4th everyone!

World Cup 2006 Update!

2006-06-20T12:25:00.000-07:00

So I'm 7 - 1 this World Cup so far! I think Spain is going to win it all this time around. I still can't believe Italy knocked in a goal for the US, or else I'd be 8 - 0 and up a lot of cash instead of riding on breakeven.

Photo from PixPulse.com