I won the invites form Nuffnang to #NuffnangIs007!

I won the invites, YES AH!

Both of the invites went to my junk folder, thank god Nuffnang called me, else I would have so missed it!

Can't wait!

WhatsApp bought over by Facebook for 19 Billion, WHY?

For a whooping 19 billion? In context, Instagram's purchase seem like a affordable one now, haha!

Many of you would ask, why? Since WhatsApp is ad-free and very likely to stay that way.

Here is a few articles to answer your queries and satisfy your curiosity.


Facebook to acquire mobile messaging service WhatsApp - Fortune Tech

"As part of the deal, WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum will join Facebook's board of directors. And just as with Instagram, WhatsApp will continue to operate independently under its own brand."

"The service boasts 450 million active users, a number that has more than doubled over the past nine months. What's more, more than 70% of them log on every single day."


WhatsApp reportedly turned down a $10B offer from Google

"Google reportedly didn’t offer WhatsApp a board seat — whereas Facebook gave up a seat to WhatsApp cofounder Jan Koum."

"By offering $10 billion, Google showed that it wasn’t afraid to outspend Facebook’s previously mammoth (and potentially overvalued) purchases. But Google likely couldn’t have guessed that Facebook would offer almost twice as much."


All the Major Companies Worth Less Than WhatsApp

"One of the co-founders, who is now a billionaire with the sale of WhatsApp to Facebook, didn't get hired by Twitter or Facebook in 2009. Now how's that for a happy ending?"


Is WhatsApp Worth $19bn? It Is To Facebook, And Here’s Why

"Facebook bought a network that was a real threat to its existence, that is growing much faster than itself (growth drives valuations) and has almost half as many members already, for only 10% of its value. And it prevented it from going to Google."

"hence an attack on the telco industry, on size alone, it is as big as half of all the texting that goes on in the world."

"WhatsApp killed the I-bill-you-by-text-message telco model. I would not be surprised if WhatsApp next move is to kill the I-bill-you-by-the-minute model. It is not reasonable that Facebook, which wants to connect everyone on the planet, still does not have a platform for people to have actual conversations a la Viber or Skype. I can’t imagine that things will stay this way. And owning the world’s texting and the world’s conversations may very well be worth $19bn."

I want to be part of #NuffnangIs007 at Fullhouse Signature Singapore!

Alright its gonna be nuffnang's 7th Year birthday bash and I want to be there!

Haven't been blogging fervently for awhile, national service, work, excuses, procrastination and more procrastination, for awhile back then I manage to generate a decent count of page view through a lil seo/seeding and suff like that(nerd stuff), so I thought I'd try something like nuffnang hoping I can "get paid". I mean, seriously, getting paid for blogging? HELL YEAH

To be honest, over 70k total view counts in donkey amount of years, nothing to shout about if anything, but it is with nuffnang where I can see real cha ching being "credited" into my account and I feel comfortable knowing nuffnang is a very localized platform as compared to counterparts like "Gu Ge Ads". Nuffnang is a platform I can relate better to, a little community of bloggers than a very commercialized feel despite being very inactive, hopefully in the near future you'd see my name popping out in the blogosphere!

alright JUST GIVE ME THE GOD DAMN RSVP ALREADY, I promise I'd behave, pretty please? :)


ciao,
Andy

Post ORD Taiwan Trip

Well this post is long overdue!

Transition was pretty smooth post ORD, nothing more I could ask for, gotten my job confirmation like 2 months prior to ORD so I didn't have to worry about finding a job post trip.

I had the chance to meet quite a number of couchsurfers from the trip, alright I'd let the photos do the talking instead!

Ximending

ah zhong mian xian

smells like sewage, taste like it? not really!

Friendly locals! In a very localized Club!

omnomnom

Xinyi District

jiufen

Very expensive "Yum Cha"

beitou 

Taipei 101

danshui

Met my first couchsurfer!

traveller from Hong Kong! look at the lady on the left, whatcha pointing at lady?! lol

First couchsurfing event, team taiwan!

Quite a experience, met csers from all over the world.

super thick, sashimi

Can't wait to be travelling again, one day I'm so gonna try a solo backpacking, come what may, I need new adventures!