Sunday, May 24, 2020

How 3 Former PayPal Employees Created YouTube

What in the world did we do before YouTube was created? Or, rather,  know how to do? Everything from how to put on false eyelashes to the proper way to skin a deer to the chord progressions for your favorite rock songs is now just a click away, thanks to this video-sharing invention by a trio of former PayPal employees. It was February 2005 when Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karin, working out of a garage in Menlo Park, California, debuted their invention. In November 2006, the investors became millionaires when they sold YouTube for $1.65 billion to the search engine Google.   A Virtual Encyclopedia According to Jawed Karim, the inspiration for YouTube came from the halftime faux pas committed by Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, when Janet’s breast was  accidentally  exposed to millions of viewers on live television. Karim could not find the video clip anywhere online, so the idea to found a destination to watch and share videos on the World Wide Web was born. Today, YouTube users can create, upload, and share video clips on the site, www.YouTube.com, and also embed them for further sharing on any number of non-YouTube pages, including  Facebook  and  Twitter. Not only that, users can access millions of other videos, both amateur and professional, including music videos, how-tos, product reviews, and political rants—even entire movies and television programs. YouTube even has a satellite television station. And its all mostly free, although there is a subscription component that allows you to customize your use. While almost anything goes on YouTube, there are a few things that dont. Content that is sexually explicit, hateful, violent, or that is threatening or bullying will be removed. Likewise, YouTube does not permit spam, scams, or misleading metadata, and they have strict rules against copyright infringement as well. Users are fully able to flag anything they see as inappropriate, and it will be brought to YouTubes attention immediately. About the Founders Co-founder Steve Chen was born in 1978 in Taiwan and immigrated to the United States when he was 15. He was educated at the University of Illinois and after graduation found employment at PayPal, where he met his fellow YouTube co-inventors and co-founders Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim. In August 2013, he and Chad Hurley also launched MixBit, a smartphone video editing company. Currently, Chen is with GV (formerly Google Ventures), a venture capital firm that focuses on technology companies. Born in 1977, Chad Hurley received a bachelors degree in fine art from the University of Pennsylvania and was later employed by eBay’s PayPal division (Hurley designed PayPals trademark logo). In addition to founding MixBit with Steve Chen in 2013, Hurley is also an investor in several major sports teams. Jawed Karim (born in 1979) also worked at Paypal, where he met his future YouTube founders. Karim also pursued an advanced degree at Stanford University and is considered the most elusive member of the threesome. He was the first person ever to post a video on YouTube, a 19-second video of his visit to the elephant exhibit at the San Diego Zoo. As of this writing, the video has had over 72 million views.

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

The Theater Experience in Shakespeares Lifetime

To fully appreciate Shakespeare, its best to see his plays live on stage. It’s a sad fact that today we typically study Shakespeares plays out of books and forego the live experience. It’s important to remember that the Bard was not writing for today’s literary readership, but for a live audience. Shakespeare was not writing for just any live audience but was writing for the masses in Elizabethan England, many of whom couldn’t read or write. The theater was usually the only place the audiences to his plays would be exposed to fine, literary culture. To better understand Shakespeares works, todays reader needs to go beyond the texts themselves to consider the context of these works: the details of the live theater experience during the Bard’s lifetime. Theater Etiquette in Shakespeare’s Time Visiting a theater and watching a play in Elizabethan times was very different from today, not just because of who was in the audience, but because of how people behaved. Theatergoers were not expected to be still and silent throughout the performance as modern audiences are. Instead, Elizabethan theater was the modern equivalent of a popular band concert. It was communal and even, at times, raucous, depending on the subject matter of a given performance. The audience would eat, drink, and talk throughout the performance. Theaters were open air and used natural light. Without the advanced technology of artificial light, most plays were performed not in the evening, as they are today, but rather in the afternoon or during the daylight. Furthermore, plays during that era used very little scenery and few, if any, props. The plays usually relied on language to set the scene. Female Performers in Shakespeare’s Time The laws for contemporary performances of Shakespeare’s plays banned women from acting. Female roles were thus played by young boys before their voices changed in puberty. How Shakespeare Changed Perceptions of the Theater Shakespeare saw the public’s attitude towards theater shift during his lifetime. Prior to his era, the theater in England was considered to be a disreputable pastime. It was frowned upon by Puritan authorities, who were worried that it might distract people from their religious teachings. During the reign of Elizabeth I, theaters were still banned within the city walls of London (even though the Queen enjoyed the theater and frequently attended performances in person). But over time, the theater became more popular, and a thriving â€Å"entertainment† scene grew on Bankside, just outside the city walls. Bankside was considered to be a â€Å"den of iniquity† with its brothels, bear-baiting pits, and theaters. The place of theater in Shakespeares time widely diverged from its perceived role today as high culture reserved for the educated, upper classes. The Acting Profession During Shakespeare’s Time Shakespeare’s contemporary theater companies were extremely busy. They would perform around six different plays each week, which could only be rehearsed a few times before the performance. There was no separate stage crew, as theater companies have today. Every actor and stagehand helped to make costumes, props, and scenery. The Elizabethan acting profession worked on an apprentice system and therefore was strictly hierarchical. Playwrights themselves had to rise up through the ranks. Shareholders and general managers were in charge and profited the most from the company’s success. Managers employed their actors, who became permanent members of the company. Boy apprentices were at the bottom of the hierarchy. They usually began their careers by acting in small roles or playing the female characters.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

What Being American Meant In 1780 Free Essays

In 1780, the notion of being American meant different things depending on one’s identity. To Thomas Jefferson, among the architects of the new nation, it meant deserving one’s liberty, and he believed that certain people were ill-suited for what he considered the demands of an enlightened society. In particular, he believed blacks and whites could never coexist because of slavery’s legacy, citing: â€Å"Deep-rooted prejudices entertained by whites [and] ten thousand recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained† (Binder, 1968, p. We will write a custom essay sample on What Being American Meant In 1780 or any similar topic only for you Order Now   55-56). In addition, he considered them intellectually inferior. He considered America an improvement over other nations, and while he felt ambivalent about slavery and sympathetic toward blacks, he did not envision a multiracial America. For poet Phyllis Wheatley, an African-American who spent years in slavery and lived in poverty, being an American meant barriers and contradictions based on race. Wheatley, whose poetry Jefferson thought â€Å"below the dignity of criticism† (Robinson, 1982, pp. 42-43), was well aware of America’s racial contradictions (a nominally free nation which still embraced slavery) but nonetheless asked white America for tolerance and acceptance. In â€Å"On being Brought from Africa to America,† the narrator is optimistic about America and grateful for being part if it – â€Å"’Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land† – but also admits, â€Å"Some view our sable race with scornful eye, /’There colour is a diabolic die’† (Robinson, 1975, p. 60). However, her closing appeal is not for liberty and full equality, but simply a reminder that blacks can at least be equal as Christians, in God’s eyes. To Jefferson, part of America’s elite, being American meant freedom for those who met his standards, while Wheatley, aware of America’s racial situation, makes an appeal for at least spiritual equality. Being American meant being free – though race was used as a means of denying freedom to all. REFERENCES Binder, F. M. (1968). The Color Problem in Early National America. Paris: Mouton. Robinson, W. H. (1975). Phyllis Wheatley in the Black American Beginnings. Detroit: Broadside Press. Robinson, W. H. (1982). Critical Essays of Phyllis Wheatley. Boston: G. K. Hall and Company How to cite What Being American Meant In 1780, Papers

Monday, May 4, 2020

Calculating Price Elasticity of Demand †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Calculating Price Elasticity of Demand. Answer: Introdcution: Price elasticity of demand gives information to the seller about the possible reaction that the buyers will have upon a price change (Moffatt, 2017). This is very important therefore in deciding the price to charge for the goods produced. The topic of elasticity helps in understanding the nature of the good depending on the magnitude of demand. A good with a high demand even when the prices are high is considered price inelastic (Pettinger, 2017). Similarly, a good that demand is low when prices are high is considered price elastic. Elasticity helps the investor therefore in determining the changes that will occur to the revenues when they vary their prices. It is crucial for the Board of Schmeckt Gut to understand that raising the price does not always result in an increased revenue; it only happens when demand is inelastic to price. If the demand is elastic to price, even a price rise could result in a reduced revenue. The board should also understand that lowering prices may at so metimes increase the producers revenue; this is the case where demand is price elastic; this is because more consumers will demand the good. In order to ensure that the introduction of Schmeckt Besser energy bar is smooth, the instructions the board should give the Schmeckt Gut Research Department are as follows. One is to determine the nature of the good which will determine the magnitude of need for this product. If the energy bar attests to be a necessity good, then the board should introduce the product at a higher price since demand will still be significant; otherwise it should be introduced at a lower price. The researchers should also identify the availability of close substitutes; if there are close substitutes, the energy bar will be price elastic and thus should be introduced at a lower price; otherwise it should be introduced at a higher price. The price should be equal or lower than for the close substitutes if available to make it more attractive in the market. Price ($ per Energy Bar) Quantity Demanded (Thousands per Day) PQ 1 30 30 1.5 25 37.5 2 20 40 2.5 15 37.5 3 10 30 $2 is the price that maximizes total revenue since it is giving the highest revenue of $40,000. The relationship between the Energy bars from Schmeckt Gut and those from Fly High is for complementary goods. This is because the movement between the quantity demanded for Schmeckt Gut Energy bars and the price for Fly High Energy bars is on opposite directions (Arnold, 2015). This is represented by the negative sign of the cross-elasticity of demand. The Schmeckt Besser energy bar could be smoothly introduced into the market by determining the nature of competition that exist in the market. Based on the argument that the Schmeckt is able to lower its prices so as to influence its quantity level, this makes this market an oligopoly. This is proved further by the influence of one price on the price of another producer. Further, we already confirm that this is not a perfectly competitive market because if it is, Schmeckt could not be concerned with the introduction price as it is already provided in the market. Thus, Schmeckt should understand how the players in the oligopoly markets influence the price and quantity level. This firm should also identify the target group and tailor its products according to this group so as to make the goods more competitive. Schmeckt Gut Research Department specific tasks include the identification of the other players and analyze their characteristics such as price charged and their supply level. It should also have constant track on the strategy taken by the other players. This is important because any strategy taken by any single player will affect all the other players including Schmeckt. References Arnold, R. (2015). Microeconomics. South-Western: Cengage Learning. Moffatt, M. (2017). A Primer on the Price Elasticity of Demand. ThoughtCo. Retrieved 21 October 2017, from https://www.thoughtco.com/price-elasticity-of-demand-overview-1146254. Pettinger, T. (2017). Calculating Price Elasticity of Demand. Economicshelp.org. Retrieved 21 October 2017, from https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/195/economics/calculating-price-elasticity-of-demand/.