Microsoft iPod Spoof

I think that this video has a lot to say about the different marketing strategies implemented by Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. While Jobs knew how to sell the form of a product, Gates focused solely on the product’s function. Although Apple products have become more popular in recent years since the inception of the iPod, Apple products in general do not historically have a reputation for tremendous functionality. But they sure do look cool. However, we have seen that Jobs was able to use the form of a product to make it become a more attractive medium of human expression.

5 Reasons Why Consumer Tablets Are Bad For Businesses

I was reading an article over the weekend, and one thing lead to the other, and I found myself attracted to this article called "5 Reasons Why Consumer Tablets Are Bad For Business". It was kind of interesting to read because now a days, everywhere I go, I always seem to see these tablets around. Whether I'm at the mall, on campus, at a business, in restaurants, and most popularly (I believe) on air planes. Apple's launch of the iPad back in 2010 brought a whole new of killing time. Though a lot of people own iPads, I have been noticing that some shops are starting to incorporate it with their system (more obviously Apple stores). Some of the reasons why the author of the article thought that tablets were bad for businesses included:

1. They’re high on frivolity, low on functionality

2. Thieves like them

3. They drive the IT department of corporations crazy

4. Being hard to customize in high volumes

5. Their wimpy work ethic

(Source: http://www.tabletsatwork.com/5-reasons-why-consumer-tablets-are-bad-for-business/)

BidPal

Watch out paper and pencil! There are new tools on the block for silent auctions….they’re called BidPals. So lets talk about them. The BidPal network is a fairly new company that uses wireless LAN networks to conduct silent charity auctions.

So here’s how it goes. The charity organization buys BidPal’s services to conduct the silent auction. Several days before the auction, BidPal receives the information for each auction item (such as item description, starting bid, and minimum raise) from the client and loads it into a database. Several hours before the auction, BidPal arrives to the auction site and sets up its own wireless LAN network that connects to a central server with all the auction information on it. The bidding devices used by the client are nothing more than iPod Touches with the BidPal app loaded onto them.

So BidPal assistants, such as myself, clean and charge the iPods and then synchronize them with the wireless network. We check to make sure all the information loaded into the database is correct and then begin registration. Usually bidders are slightly confused when they receive the device simply because they have not encountered this kind of technology in a silent auction setting. And if they have sour feelings about the change, those feelings only get extrapolated as the evening carries on and the bidders' BAC steadily increases. But that is where BidPal assistants come in handy. We circulate around the auction area and ask bidders how they are enjoying the device to ensure that the bidders understand the technology and to fix any glitches that might be occurring. This really helps to make sure that the technology is warmly received and that people enjoy themselves. For the most part, people enjoy it, are fascinated by it, and want it back for next year’s auction!

Study: More women, traditional media are blogging

*Source: http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/04/tech/web/california-blogosphere/index.html*

This week's feature is a little off topic, but still in the realm of technology. As current technology develops, there seems to be more that we can do with it that we couldn't before. Take for example online shopping; if I were to tell you 10 years ago that sometime in the future you would be able to order something from half way across the world and not leave your bed, you would think I'm crazy. In this case, blogging seems to be catching a lot of attention in the past couple of years. Before when the internet was for surfing websites and researching companies, now there are many aspects to the internet. Today there are over 170 million public blogs - thats a lot of blogs when you come to think of it. The topics of these blogs range anything from personal to company profiles to cooking advise even some about toys and games. According to this article, a study was conducted and found that women make up 41% of the bloggers, up from 36% last year. Also according to the article "Traditional media see blogs as an opportunity to communicate in a more conversational voice, she said. Those outlets maintain ethical and professional standards in their online postings, but their blogs do "get to be edgy," Higgins said. But blogging remains largely a hobby for the vast majority of practitioners, as most can't afford to quit their day job. Only 4% of all bloggers say that online writing is their primary source of income. And for those who say they do it full-time, only 37% of those pros say their blogging work is their primary income, according to the study. As for being on a payroll, only 14% of bloggers receive a salary for blogging, with the average pay being $24,000 a year, the study said. The highest reported salary was $140,000.

For those bloggers who get paid for each posting they write, the majority receive less than $50 per post, and only 6% of professional bloggers get more than $250 per post, the study said.""