chegg

Textbook seller Chegg sets sights on the 'student graph'

Amazon textbook rentals don't scare Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig -- the well funded startup has grand plans of its own that it believes will propel it into a whole new league.

Chegg, which started as a textbook purchase and resale service for students, has set its sights on expanding what Rosensweig calls a "student graph," a social network for students that aids them in college planning and studies, from high school to college graduation and beyond.

The student graph aims to connect students in the Chegg network, similar to Facebook and other social networks. Rosensweig expects that … Read more

Rosensweig named chief of Chegg

Dan Rosensweig, a high-profile technology executive, is the new president and chief executive of the online textbook rental company Chegg.

The appointment, announced by Chegg co-founder Osman Rashid on Tuesday, becomes effective immediately. Rosensweig finds himself in a crowded business segment, with Chegg squaring off against its chief rival, BookRenter.com, as well as megasize book retailers such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com and smaller local booksellers.

But helped by penny-pinching concerns born of a bracing recession, students increasingly view textbook rental as an attractive alternative to purchasing their books outright. The service operates on a time clock. … Read more

Save big on textbooks at Chegg

While I sit here rotting--er, working happily--in the Cheapskate Labs basement, the lovely Mrs. Cheapskate is busily pursuing a degree in nutrition. That means lots of chemistry classes, which, in turn, means lots of insanely expensive textbooks. And I mean insanely expensive: for some classes, the books cost nearly as much as the credit hours!

Fortunately, we've discovered Chegg, which allows us to "rent" textbooks for significantly less than buying them new--and, in many cases, for less than buying them used.

For example, when Mrs. C needed Macroscale and Microscale Organic Experiments, 5th Edition, for an organic-chemistry … Read more

Daily Tidbits: Joost kills software application

Online video service Joost sent e-mails to its users Wednesday announcing that it has discontinued its software application. Released just a few months ago, the software application will be shuttered as of Friday, December 19. In the e-mail, the company claims that users will still be able to watch its videos online.

Panasonic is getting into the social-networking realm, it announced Tuesday. According to the company, its new social-networking community, Living in HD, is designed to "inspire ideas and spark conversation" among people through videos, photos, and project ideas. Each user will be given the opportunity to explain … Read more