Category: E-Commerce

Innovation and Tech Diplomacy

Posted on by alexesguerra

While listening through some of the speeches on the Rise of Techplomacy, it reminded me of the initial policy deliberations in 1996 while forming the then APEC Young Entrepreneurs Assn in line during the APEC ministerial meetings where we represented the Youth and Young Entrepreneurs in the Business Advisory Council.

At that time we talked about Innovation Centers for Young Entrepreneurs venturing then with the internet and it’s future. We wanted to develop a mechanism of sharing information and research which will benefit future business leaders.

Two decades after at the onset of the Millennium Age driven tech and business leaders, I’m amazed that the innovative Swiss and Expats in the Bay Area talks about Techplomacy. On the speakers dialogues explained the existence of the foreign consulates initiatives outside the typical passports and the like towards gearing focus on Techplomacy new research and innovations.

With our own branded websites at ADLE International for example were making sure we are in compliance with the EU Cookie policy. We have also seen the social media traffic fluctuations we got right after the recent Cambridge Analytica case scrutinized affecting online interactions.

I guess part of the Techplomacy involves also the discussions on Privacy as it affects diplomacy especially as this specific case involved a national election. Personally. I’m happy that this era has trended as I thought our initial discussions then in 1996 died through these years. However in today’s mobile news I believe I’m sort of still in touch if ever there’s something relative to the topic. After all these are the topics I’ve advocate through my young entrepreneur years then.

Even back then although we give a general consent when we give our personal data to then pledging internet companies, before its shared to a 3rd party for whatever purpose there should be another disclosure or consent before implementation. So for our websites for example like Affordable Book Deals the best is not to share any information outside of us and neither do we retain any information. Our merchant processors have to go through their extensive PCI compliance and their secured gateways channel any credit card information so it’s no where recorded in our websites.

Kudos to the efforts of this cause on Techplomacy as we watch the next steps in this evolution.

Affordable Books Mobile App now live with Google Play

Posted on by alexesguerra

Can’t believe it’s been 3 weeks since we launched our first Mobile App “Affordable Books” with Apple ITunes.

A day after our 2nd Mobile App “Usedbooksworld” goes live on Apple ITunes, the Android version of “Affordable Books” goes live with Google Play Store.

With years of planning way right after Amazon kindle, the new roadmap of ecommerce with the emerging favorites of Shopify partners and the like just made bookselling finally going to the forefront of mobile ecommerce.

We are also happy to announced that our flagship Affordable Books On Line is finally getting mobile user friendly anytime now.

Books has not been a favorite years back by ecommerce platforms like Channel Advisor etc.  as for them there is no money made in the industry. With the domination of the mega book market places on selling penny books by the U.K. Third party drop shippers  the bookselling industry has been a non profit endeavor for pledging independent small booksellers. Such mega giants profit from their endless selling. Electronic fees and commissions. With that said even the so called antique and out of print next giants marketplaces followed through. Such places even reinforced themselves on controlling inventory and order management using FTP connection and the like where they would charge thousands merely listing 10000 books regardless if you made $25 of sales that month.

With this new mobile technology partnered with the emerging new ecommerce apps I am very optimistic that finally independent online booksellers can finally start to fight back and slowly gain back market share.

Hopefully, I am calling on the advocacy led by the American Bookselers Association to initiate these discussions on the upcoming Book Expo America at the end of this month at the Jacob Javits in New York.

To our fellow small independent booksellers, let’s grab the traction before the mega giants once again think of killing our growth.

Alex Esguerra

The dreams behind Alexandria

Posted on by alexesguerra

You, the dream
You, the dream
A global company reaching people’s lives globally by compassionate understanding of behavior, networks, spreading educational sustainability and wireless technology is what keeps me working through the nights. Money has never been the prime motivator in my passions through the years. It was always connecting through people’s lives, the belief that even the poorest can have a good life and that there is always a solution to change the present towards the future was the triggering hormone always in my system. Even as a kid in elementary school, I had been always accelerated in school as teachers thought that I was too knowledgeable to know things on my age.

For some reason, in my special skill to predict and forecast especially how the financial markets would be was some kind of third sense for me. But just the same, the question was always why does social inequality and economics affect a lot of people’s lives just because one was poor, lacking in education, did not have the tools or training they needed to succeed?

So one day while reading a book by Napoleon Hill’s, Think and Grow Rich followed by playing with my IBM and DOS computer thinking about Bill Gates, I simply said why can’t we have a device that had book stories with the ability to be a scientific calculator while connecting with my friends anywhere while we were exploring the 9 planets to pluto. Suddenly, my heavy micro flip flop sony ericsson phone rang asking if I had already check the compuserve email about the article I just submitted with the school organ’s editor in chief.

Due to my lack of electrical knowledge on the positive and negative wirings for the lamp shade project short circuited the entire fuse box of the physical education building. The mistake was I was not following the correct instructions from my science teacher as if I just followed what my cousin Noel was doing with his lamp project.

I was always fascinated with science and technology, history, social studies but despise my math teacher as what was the calculator for if I had to use the longer written math? Yet, mom made me open a savings accounts for P1.00 with home savings bank which I gradually enjoyed putting a little of my remaining allowances later and the profit from the candies sold.

Believe it or not, weird as it may seem all these factors contributed to what I really wanted to achieve when I was being a little techie. But then so many things happen later, they were so fast I saw myself later on at 19 being a President of an Export Trade Association trading christmas decor ornaments, went to ribbons, travelled extensively, made money and fame and still fascinated with technology.

Then suddenly, I remembered it must be a mere hunger as again I had skept dinner and homeless in a park by Vancouver, B.C. in 1996. This was the idea and the fascination dream to continue that quest in spite even of the failures and mistakes that still got me inspired to one day go back to trading books while connecting with friends and still trending and forecasting.

Tools ‹ The Road to Alexandria, the future of the internet — WordPress

Posted on by alexesguerra

Tools ‹ The Road to Alexandria, the future of the internet — WordPress.

Media syndication highly influences our youth. We have the obligation and duty to give a positive attitude and to teach our youth the right message of change.

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A New Emerging Venture – Collaborative Technology using Alexandria

Posted on by alexesguerra

User-friendliness, understanding individual pyschological wants and needs, and a human experience interface are some of the components for Alexandria.

The new said killer application is still in final development but surely this platform will revolutionalized digital imaging and collaborative wireless technologies.  Interestingly like a widget, enticing like an emoticon but financially sharp, witty, intelligently social and thinking like a human being while seeing a snapshot of space is what this new gear would be.   

I will then leave it to the nerds, the scientist and the venture capitalists to keep their minds until they finally meet this application in due time.

Hopefully, when the platforms are ready for testing the smart pioneering investors will have already leverage being a huge part in it’s inception.

The Technology Herd a new way of online collaboration

Posted on by alexesguerra
Human Emotions
Human Emotions

In desperate times people try to communicate more and more often through social networking and freedom of expression.  With the technological advantage of the internet today people who share the same ideologies, beliefs and interests can come together.

Thus, the age of “community” building for networking and new found friends have found it’s way in major social networking sites, blogs, websites and platforms. 

As in the case of videos like in You Tube, there seems to be a new evolution that people expressed themselves especially for the youth today.   Collaboration is now over and above work and tasks, it a system of human interaction towards a more infinite undertaking and sense of belonging.

This is indeed true into wireless devices like Iphone, Itunes and kindle where there seems to be a real emotional attachment of one’s personal feelings towards finding that self sustaining satisfaction.  This is very true in writers and new breed of citizen bloggers as creativity through writing has been a way to interact a persons views and opinions.

I remember way back in 1990’s when the Internet Revolution began with important arenas on publishing, community and deep connection to an individual’s self realization.

Today, in the new age of a new revolution in social networking collaboration, “content” is emperor of all things.  It has replace the economics of publishing by availability to get free and immediate information.  This is why blogs has been so indeed popular today as if you are a blogger you better have fresh content.  In the old days, experts has the enormous advantage of time, proof-readers and editors so they can refine their grammar, words, spelling and accuracy.

Today, the true experts will emerge more wiser and credible because they have the intellectual ability to express their talents inherent on their individual personalities.   There is no more time for long hours of proof reading and editing as this is reality and real self knowledge.

After having an interesting content now comes the human connection for the reader, video watcher or music listener today.  It is now an age of space as consumers had become extremely smart and geeky that readers can immediately sense and detect who are the real people, real experts, and sincere connections.

This is why when we have captured that content, a more spirited undertaking towards enticing that person in watching a video channel, hearing the music and only then will create that spark for them to buy a product or service to support the person they are are really connected.

Hence, this is why all of a sudden the aggressive selling techniques we have tested over the years do not work anymore.  The more aggressive we are the more we are aggravating a person’s hate of a specific brand.  This is why collection practices where collectors are making threatening calls can no longer be effective.

People are generally good and conscientious in general and yes there are habitual liars.  But there are specific enforcers who are able to know and differentiate the true from the crooks.

Yet, if we are more connecting on the more sophisticated way of human psychology and sociology of evolution, people will be initiating that self initiative to take responsbility for their actions.

A herd connects to a vast network and the way for the future is simple behavorial human psychology and collaborative technologies.  For as you know, this is might be the essential recovery we need so that prosperity will get back towards belief in the system.

Vocation Education and the Internet a need towards upward prosperity

Posted on by alexesguerra

With the onset of vocational education and online technology today, it has been such an important ingredient towards growth.

In 1996 when we were working on the educational and cross cultural exchange programs link to the the youth for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, we linked satellite centers of technology.

Through policy recommendations efficiency and productivity were a good way of dealing with unemployment and inequality.   As we know, with the thousands of jobless today, we see an increase in the value towards education and change of careers.

Even during the inevitable times of 1930’s during the great depression, the environment and infrastructures were upheld. As seen today, there is much focus on the green technology for sustainability, the environmental impact as well as job creation towards infrastructure developments.

Yet the missing compenent still is the “youth”.   The youth is a great potential especially for those entering the work force for the first time. This is the opportune time for them to get the right training and growth productivity.

While we are looking at all the macro economic impact of the present economic crisis, maybe the medium to long term stimuli should be youth centered.

The financial impact of the flow of money will of course jump start a sinking consumer confidence. However, as we have seen the markets’  react yesterday on the economic plans, investors thought it was too short and not very informative.

Tackling economics is very extremely complicated as it involves a complete process of short, medium and long term enactments to get the public trust anew.

For example, the Phelps plan on rewarding work productivity can be a good part of the program. It does not just give Earned Income Credit but also give the incentive for people trying to get to be working. Edmund Phelps gave an example of how employment subsidy can thereby assure  the workforce to be really productive.

It is just like giving the financial bail-outs onto extending credit. The news media are even emphasizing about micro financing of small businesses but again the question which  is “which bank is that” or “where are they”  if ever.

Oversight is an extreme measure for the government towards regulation. However, as in any business or economic plan, why not make these banks submit the target recepients. Likewise, how are they going to accomodate credit lending when half of the nation has been now in a harsh credit reality.

Hence, when we target job creation for the enterprises that will get the bail-out, a focus on job training and productivity may just be a good pre-requisite in the plan.

As the world embraces the concept of new technology, workers and the youth have a lot of education and vocational options even online based to ensure the measure of success.

Prosperity will be hard earned in today’s reality but this is also the greatest opportunity to look into a growing breed of the next generation.

Online collaboration, a snapshot of the 22nd century

Posted on by alexesguerra

What does the world want today?  From mergers and acquisitions foiling up, bail-out’s, people’s lives and emotions at stake.  All after the global recession of 2008, much greater than 1987 and 1998 combined and almost similar to the great depression of 1929.

With economists over smart and briliant forecasters and indicators what seems to be left behind to look for hope, faith and the future of the technological revolution?

As my colleques at the famous Institute of Electrical and  Electronics Engineers say maybe this is the next phase of analytics engine, search and advertising technology.

With big stalwarts of the corporate industrial age finds solutions in bestowing the might of a once magnificent empire, the new breed of emerging silicon valley giants with Trade Vibes.com seems to be concentrating on the relevace of human emotion, social networking and online collaborative technology.

Even the bigwigs of paid, search and blogsvertising phenomenons seems to be turning towards new content, current events and social responsibility as a way towards the green phenomenon of sustainability.

In the silicon valley arena there seems to be a flare for perfection as investors unhold their major shares with the valleywags towards angel and seed capital to micro start-ups that have lately been noticed by the insiders.

The battle on search algorithms and desktops integrations has began personalizing collaborative feeds and complete content than the usual stand alone search technology.

As widgets and CSS theme with RSS feeds and podcasting are embeeded to media centered video’s and music it seems that the way to make the sale is to seek a deeper understanding of the predictabiity of the human emotion.

As we unload the corrections of wrong investment strategies focused on self greed and ambition, the online syndication has finally made it’s way as a daily gadget of human existence.

As the new frontier of sophisticated VOIP’s protocols,  are integrated to emailing and surfing, a more predominant personal engagement to family and friends in any part of the world seems to be a new trend of collaboration.

So as Archie is one again reborn, content with advertising, search and networking will be the new rulers of silicon valley.