Archive for February, 2008
Why be extra-super-duper-ordinary?
Hi, my name is Kevin Xu, and I am solipsistic.
Solipsism is apparently the philosophical idea that “My mind is the only thing that I know exists.” When you think about it, it’s true. Only I know what I feel when I touch something. Only I know what I think and everyone else’s thoughts are synthetic. I don’t know if anyone even exists when I’m not with them. Maybe all life was just created to further my life? Yes I’m saying that none of you are real and are only here to entertain me.
Of course, all of the above is sarcastic. But solipsism can be a major ego-booster if you’re ever feeling down, try it out.
A noob in San Francisco…
I failed to get into the SSBB tourney… (stupid line)
I failed to meet Aaron Stanton… (or any other tech dude)
I failed to go to meetups or conventions… (GDC costed $$$)
I failed to make any progress startup-worthy… But hey I got to visit San Francisco!!!
Hello San Francisco!
Tomorrow I’m flying to California for a week-long super vacation extravaganza!
Basically I want to check out the startup culture and visit some colleges. I view San Francisco as a city full of wonderful opportunities for a young lad like me. Just by meeting the right people and making the right connections can get me really far in my dream.
First up I’ll be in Los Angeles from the 16th to the 18th. There will be a Super Smash Brothers Brawl tourney that I hope to get in. Only first 256 people though, let’s see how clever I am.
Then I hit the road and off to San Francisco from the 19th through the 22nd. I will be visiting Stanford on the 21st but other than that I will just be around the area just basking in the culture. I don’t think any big companies like Google or Apple will just let me talk to someone if I go into HQ. But I sure will try to take lots of pictures in front of those company logos!
I’ll also be sure to blog anything worth mentioning here. California has great wi-fi spots =D
So if anyone is in those areas, I will be more than happy to meet up with anyone! Just send an email or leave a comment. Aaron Stanton from CanGoogleHearMe actually offered to have lunch with me after reading my last post. He hasn’t replied back to my email but here’s me hoping for the best.
~Kevin Xu
Wanna Doodle 4 Google?
Seems like Google wants to tap into the precious minds of pre-college kids once again― more specifically my age group.
Doodle 4 Google is Google’s newest project allowing kids in grades K-12 to draw a new Google logo and win prizes. It will be centered around the theme “What If…?” which leaves it open to an infinite amount of innovation. Grand prize includes a $10,000 college scholarship, a technology grant for your school, a trip to the Googleplex, and of course your logo on the Google homepage for a whole day.
Pretty genius idea if you ask me. The Google logo has become almost a cultural icon and if you are an artist this is an awesome opportunity to show off your ability. My bet is that Google is going to value the creativity of the logo way higher than the actual artistic prowess of it.
But I find it funny how GHOP just ended with the winners announced and now Doodle 4 Google starts. Google has done a fine job of micro-managing by splitting the company into different departments (Open Source, AdSense, Gmail, etc.) but it’s interesting how they all come together targeting 18 year olds and younger to join them as a part of these contests. It’s a great opportunity and also great prizes await. But it’s all just very interesting…
It’s not like Google is trying to brainwash kids at younger ages to hail them as Godly or something. The least we want is a new generation of fanboys/fangirls (being politically correct here). Or maybe they are just prepping kids to love them so they don’t have to pay them so much?
But I do admit that I love their logos:
~Kevin Xu
Congratulations ‘Can Google Hear Me’
His quest started with a simple question: How do you get a big company like Google to really listen to a good idea? Now Aaron Stanton is on his way back to Google HQ to turn that idea into a reality.
I blogged about him when the blog started, but it’s almost surreal to watch his progress from idea to execution. Stanton blogged frequently about his first adventure to Google HQ mainly because it was the crux of the site but then the posts started dwindling. But I knew that he and his team were hard at work programming the Novel Project into something that he could be proud of.
It is now more than a year since he started and he has almost gone full circle. He got the idea, the motivation, the publicity, the partners, the time, the money, and even the office space (his living room).
We chose the name Can The World Hear Me not because we weren’t original but because we applaud what Stanton has done so far and what he will do. Seeing his success drives us to go forward with our plans because in reality (just like in fairytales) anything can really happen.
Funny thing is, he still hasn’t told us what his idea is! I’ll be in the San Francisco area next week as well so maybe I might bump into him on the streets? You never know…
~Kevin Xu
Back In The Swing of Things…
Can The World Hear Me was meant to be a starting point for us to create something notable enough for the world to know our names. And it is still that.
Besides the daily occurrences of schoolwork and social life, there is so much more to be done in one’s lifetime. We’re glad we didn’t realize that too late in our lives. If we just kept going with the status quo the whole time, we would just be another head in the crowd.
So this blog will chronicle major points in our journey to do just that. It has served well as a place to talk out our ideas and it will continue to do that. We want to extend its use to become an online portfolio as well as a planning area. We also got Moleskine notebooks for private ideas and planning.
Currently this is the laid out plan:
- Full redesign of the blog― Expected date: March 25
- Launch Birthday Blog Idea― Expected date: End of Spring
- Establish first Startup― Expected date: End of Summer
- *Meanwhile gain experience and startup know-how
There may be a slow down in the number of posts per week but that is only because we want to emphasize major updates in our journey. It may seem like we have been re-iterating our same goals but that is because of our constant posting. We’ll try to fit in a post a week to keep everything updated and that also serves as a due date to make sure we do something interesting every week.
We are also very interested to hear from our readers. Either drop us a comment or email us, we’re interested in the general reaction.
~Kevin Xu and Josh Belanich