is this some kind of interactive theater art piece?
Showing posts with label The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich. Show all posts

Monday, February 7, 2011

Pages 210-258

The Winklevoss twins are at a rowing championship in England. It is a very big deal to them and they are honored to be there. However, a Dutch team beats them by 2 seconds. After the race they are congratulated by the host. They start talking and the host brings up facebook. He says his daughter has one and gives it praise. This infuriates the twins. Facebook is not only popular in the United States, but it has traveled across the world.

Now Eduardo is furious with Mark and Sean. After working hard in New York and setting up meetings with advisers he felt really good about himself. Until, he called Mark to tell him the good news only to be shot down. Mark did not care about the progress Eduardo had made. Sean jumped on the phone to inform Eduardo that he had set up a few meetings with advisers also. Mark continued to stress how Eduardo should move to California. After sending Mark a complaint letter and getting no results Eduardo decided to freeze the account. Mark would not be able to cash checks or take money out of the account.

To sum up the end of the book, Sean Parker and Eduardo Savern are both cut from facebook. Sean gets arrested at a party with underage drinkers and drugs. Mark decides he brings a negative image and fires him. After Eduardo freezes the accounts Mark cannot trust him anymore. Eduardo is also no longer apart of facebook anymore. The Winklevoss Twins ended up suing Mark for 65 million dollars. Eduardo finally got the credit he deserved. He will forever be the "cofounder". Facebook continued to progress and today there are over 2 million users. Mark Zuckerberg is one of the richest 25 year olds in the world.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Pages 132-172

Chapter 17 gives you a look at the life of Sean Parker. He wakes up in some girls bedroom and he has no idea where he is. Then, he notices and open laptop with a girls Facebook pulled up. Interested, he starts getting excited and decides that he needs to find the creator, Mark Zuckerberg. Then Sean goes to a flash back of when he first created Napster and Plaxo. He talks about how his friends betrayed him and now he is looking for his next big project.

The next chapter, Mark, Eduardo, and his girlfriend ,Kelly, are on their way to Meet Sean Parker in New York. Right away Eduardo dislikes Sean. Mark thought if they brought in Sean, he would help make money and expand Facebook. However, Eduardo was supose to be in charge of the business making decisions.

After that dinner, things began to fall together. Eduardo and Mark begin noticing major representatives from software and internet companies tracking them down. Everyone wanted to be apart of the Facebook expansion. Marks friends were also working on a file sharing network called Wirehog. That would eventually be combined with Facebook. Summer was approching so they both had to figure out how work on Facebook could continue. Because it wasn't making any money yet, Eduardo took and internship in New York. Mark decided to move to California with his friend Dustin and two other interns. Of course, those interns were not going to work for free. So, Eduardo opened up an 18 thousand dollar account to fund their operation.

Meanwhile, the Winklevoss twins and Divya launch their new website, ConnectU. After failing to get any justice out of their situation they decide to move on. They hope that their site will catch on and be successful but still resent Mark.

While Sean Parker is moving his girlfriends things out of her house he sees Mark. Mark had moved into the same neighborhood as Sean's girlfriend. It was convenient because Sean was looking for somewhere to stay and Mark offered their house. When Sean first gets to the house there are computers everywhere. He notices that Eduardo is no where to be seen. Sean thinks to himself that Eduardo is screwing himself over. He cannot be apart of the business half way across the country. Sean knows that with the attention comes parties and new opportunities. He's willing to teach Mark the way to handle all of it.

I think Sean Parker obviously has a hidden agenda. He is probably going to try to push Eduardo out of Facebook. Mark should have seen those signs right away. Having said that it might not have been the best idea for Eduardo to move take the internship. New York is too far away to be creating a business.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Pages 103-131

Chapter 15 takes place during a lecture by Bill Gates. Mark was so interested in the lecture to notice but, Eduardo saw two girls looking at him. Eventually the two girls came over and asked if Mark was the creator of Facebook. They had no idea who Eduardo was until he informed them. But the girls ended up asking the two of them out. Eduardo and Mark were starting to see the side effects their new site.

Later, the two of them went back to Marks dorm. That was when he received a letter from the Winklevoss twins about Facebook. They basically stated that it was unfair of Mark to set up the website. And if he did not delete the site they were going to use legal action. Mark did not seem to care at all and he was not scared of the Winklevoss twins.

Chapter 16 takes you back to the Winklevoss's point of view. They had already tried getting their dad or other resources to help them but nothing worked. So they decided to set up a meeting with the president of Harvard University. Once inside the office the twins were taken back by the presidents attitude. He did not care a bit about their minuscule problem (even though they spent hours typing up a detailed ten page paper of the emails sent between Mark and why what he did was wrong). They left the meeting feeling worse than they had before and had made no progress.

Even though Eduardo is fine with the recognition he is getting now, I think it will back fire for Mark later. Eduardo paid for the entire thing and Mark is getting all of the attention. Also, I have a feeling that the Winklevoss twins will never get what they want from Mark. At this time Facebook was not making any money. It was just a stolen idea with no contracts or official documents.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Pages 92-102

Chapter 15 is basically about getting the site up and running. Eduardo comes into Marks dorm to find him hard at work at the almost complete TheFacebook. He thinks its weird that Marks name is under the site even though Eduardo paid for it. And Mark was acting very weird and distracted. But Eduardo just brushes it off. This makes me think that maybe there will be a conflict between the two of them. Eduardo might want more credit than what he was given. At the beginning of chapter 16 the brothers and Divya see the site.  I think more probems are coming for Mark. And setting up the site was not as easy as he thought it would be.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Pages 55-91

The day after the creation of Mark's website he realizes that he could get in trouble for the site. Immediately he disables the link but its too late. Many students had already seen it and an article was published in the school paper. consequently, the school finds out and Mark has to go in front of the school board and apologizes for hacking their system. They basically gave him a warning and let him go. However, because of the article in the newspaper the Winklevoss brothers and Divya contacted Mark. They thought he was the perfect person to create their website, HarvardConnection. So Mark met with them and agreed to do the site.

Meanwhile, Eduardo is finally initiated into the club Phoenix. Mark started brainstorming and he came up with better ideas for the site. Behind the Winkleovss's backs he started "The Facebook". It was the same thing as HarvardConnection only it was interactive and for more than just dating. Mark asked Eduardo to be his partner because Eduardo had the money and soon, with the acceptance of Phoenix, he would have a lot more friends.

I really like this book so far and it's a good story. The reason why i decided to read it in the first place was because i wanted to see the movie. Everyone knows that the book is always better than the movie. It is kind of crazy to think that facebook was only made a few years ago. It went from exclusively Harvard to all colleges. Now it's moved on to high school students, and even annoying parents have them. You could ask almost anyone, and they would say they've heard of facebook.


Mark Zuckerberg

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Pages 1-54

The first character introduced is Eduardo Saverin. He is an awkward, nerdy, and very intelligent guy. He is on his junior year at Harvard but he wishes he could experience more. He makes it clear that belonging to a house, club, or group is important. Everyone is judged by their social status.

The first chapter takes place at a party. Eduardo feels very intimidated by the people and is about to leave when he runs into a popular senior. Eduardo is able to win over the senior and later he will be slowly initiated into the seniors group. After that party he finds a new house and ends up meeting Mark Zuckerberg. In high school mark turned down a million dollar opportunity from Microsoft. So, obviously he is pretty smart and good with computers. Beside the fact, Mark and Eduardo begin to hang out more often. Their relationship grows fast and they become good friends.

The book is interrupted by a chapter about three guys, Tyler Winklevoss, Cameron Winklevoss, and Divya. They are planning on making a social network to meet girls. But, the person that was suppose to do all the technical work left. So they are looking for a replacement.

Later, Mark gets jealous of Eduardo after being turned down by a girl. So, he decides to make a social network for Harvard. He stays up all night hacking Harvard's system and finally collects everyone's picture and information.