A Black Friday Tale of Two Stores - Apple vs Microsoft - Essay Example

– number and section: A Black Friday tale of two stores: Apple vs. Microsoft By: Don Reisinger Published: November 26, 2012 Summary The article discusses the performance of Apple and Microsoft during Black Friday. An analyst from Gene Monster, Piper Jaffray camped outside the Apple Store in the Mall of America to perform primary market research in regards to the amount of foot traffic and purchases at the store. He performed the same analysis at the Microsoft store of the mall. “Microsofts outlet had 47 percent less traffic than Apples” (Reisinger). The results of the research performed by Munster were passed on to Fortune which first reported the discrepancy in performance between the two stores. The performance of Microsoft was even worst in regards to items purchased per customer. Shoppers at the Microsoft store only bought 3.5 items per hour, while customers at the Apple store purchased 17.2 products per hour. One of the reasons for the big advantage in products sold was the sales Apple generated in the music player segment of the market. Apple sold during the time Monster performed its observation 11 iPods per hour. Microsoft did not sell a single Surface during the two hour observation period. One of the limitations of the study was the fact that Gene Monster performed the market research only at one store of each company. The results might have varied a lot at other establishments across America. Reflection The discussion of the performance of Microsoft and Apple during Black Friday was very interesting. I believe that the primary reason that Apple outperformed Microsoft is because Apple has a superior product line of electronic gadgets and products. Apple has been more effective at performing research and development to create products that the customers desire. The marketing efforts of Apple have also been more effective than Microsoft. For Microsoft to compete better with Apple the firm must create new innovative products. To improve innovation at Microsoft the firm must recruit young skilled professionals. Student name: – Course number and section: Title: Pet sitting site DogVacay fetches $6 million more in funding By: Donna Tam Published: November 13, 2012 Summary The startup online company DogVacay is dedicated to matching people that need a dog sitter with people that are willing to take care of the dogs. The company launched its services in March of 2012. The firm has been able in eight months to sign up 8,000 hosts to its network. The rapid growth of the firm attracted venture capitalists. The CEO of the company just received a $6 million investment from Benchmark Capital. Benchmark Capital negotiated in the deal the inclusion of one of its partners, Bill Gurley, to be added to the board of directors of DogVacay. The initial funding of the company came from Science Inc. One of the reasons for the success of the company is the fact that the prices for dog sitting that the firm offers to its customers of $28 per day is much lower than the market price of $55 per day for dog sitting services. “The companys revenue has grown an average of 60 percent per month since it started” (Tam). The current cash infusion the company received is viewed by the management of the firm as a vote of confidence in the operations of the company. The services of DogVacay are available in the United States and Canada. The firm is looking to expand its services oversees. The firm is currently working on a mobile application for smartphones to be released next year. Reflection The startup company DogVacay is a great business concept that has a lot of potential for growth. In the Unites States there are approximately 78.2 million pet dogs and 86.4 million pet cats (Aspca). I would encourage the owners of the company to seek international expansion of its services in the near future. My suggested timeline for expansion outside the United States and Canada is the summer of 2013. The firm could start by offering its services in Latin America countries. The use of mobile advertising is a great channel to market the services the company offers. Student name: – Course number and section: Title: About-face on email surveillance bill By: Steven Musil Published: November 23, 2012 Summary The article written by Steven Musil discusses a very important and controversial topic that affects the lives of the entire American population. The proposed surveillance bill would allow full access of the email accounts to 22 governmental agencies including the SEC, FBI, FCC, and Homeland Security among others. There is a lot of debate and support against this bill by private citizens, civil rights organizations, and members of the Senate and the House of Representative. A senator that is at the frontline in the battle against this discriminatory bill is Patrick Leahy. Senator Leahy believes that the current law which requires the government to obtain a warrant from a judge prior to allowing access to privilege information has worked fine for many years and should not be changed. “The Vermont Democrat said on Twitter that he would not support such an exception for warrantless access” (Musil). Two influential organizations that have publicly criticized the measure are the American Civil Union and Freedomworks. Freedomworks launched a petition to Congress against the proposed illicit measure and it has also sent over 2,300 messages titled: "Tell Congress: Stay Out of My Email!" The proposed bill violates the privacy of American citizens. Reflection The Unites States government does not have the right to violate the privacy of American citizens. Emails are confidential messages that people send to other parties. The position of the governmental officials that support this bill is anti-democratic and in full violation of the civil rights of American citizens. The Patriot Act gave similar power to law enforcement, but the power to investigate was justified because the government would only invade the privacy of suspected terrorist in American soil. American citizens have to stand up for their rights to online privacy. The use of civil disobedience is a method that should be used by Americans to let the government know that this violation of privacy is not acceptable. Student name: – Course number and section: Title: Killer robots? Cambridge brains to access AI risk By: Zack Whittaker Published: November 26, 2012 Summary The article discusses the impact that artificial intelligence, machines, and robotics is going to have on the future of our society. “The U.K.s University of Cambridge is setting up a new center to analyze the dangers posed by artificial intelligence and increasingly non-human interactive machines” (Whittaker). The university is performing academic research on the subject in order to determine the risk that machines and artificial intelligence poses on mankind. The purpose of the study is to separate facts from fiction to determine the threat that artificial intelligence poses. Based on Moore’s Law the speed and processing power of chips doubles every year. The effect of Moore’s is accumulative. The Cambridge study will analyze a wide variety of technological subjects including gadgets gone bad to global warming. Some scientists are worried that human technology may pose new extinction level risks to our species as a whole. The dangers associated with progression in artificial intelligence, developments in biotechnology and artificial life, nanotechnology, anthropogenic climate change must be studied. The impact of these risks is difficult to assess. The potential risk in the development in artificial intelligence should not be dismissed. Dismissing and not analyzing these risks is a dangerous proposition. Artificial intelligence is evolving at an accelerated rate. Reflection The proposed study by the University of Cambridge about the potential risks that artificial intelligence and robotics have on humanity is a very interesting topic to research. The success of the Terminator movie trilogy open up the minds of humans in regards to the future threats of machines. Even though the movie is based on science fiction some people believe that once artificial intelligence exceed the logic and processing power of the brain machines could pose a threat to humanity. The study will identify the potential risks and rewards of the continued use of machines. A topic that should have been discussed by the author is the impact that machines and technology are having in the industrial market. Currently in the manufacturing world many machines have replaced the need for human labor. Student name: – Course number and section: Title: More Facebook friends = more stress, poll finds By: Tim Hornyak Published: November 26, 2012 The article discusses the effect that Facebook and other social websites is having on the level of stress of the users of social media websites. The common conception that having more friends on Facebook equals more fun is wrong. Users of Facebook that have lots of friends often cannot keep up with all the wall messages that pop-up in the system. People that have lots of friends tend to spend more time surfing social media websites. A study performed by the University of Edinburgh School provided evidence that increasing friends and group of friends increases the potential for stress. The greatest source of anxiety at Facebook is the inclusion of parents and employers. “Stress arises when a user presents a version of [herself or himself] on Facebook that is unacceptable to some of their online friends” (Hornyak). People don’t want parents and employers to view displayed behavior such as swearing, recklessness, drinking, and smoking. The more social circles a person is linked to the more likely that social media can become a source of stress. The average Facebook user is linked to seven social circles. It is estimated that one third of Facebook users use listing privacy settings on their profile. Reflection Facebook is the most popular social media website with over 900 million users worldwide. A lot of people are hooked on social media websites because it enables them to interact with friends and family. I completely agree with the author of the article that an increase in number of friends on Facebook can become a source of stress because of the large number of instant messages that are posted on the wall of their friends. A lot of Facebook users stay online surfing the website for several hours each day. Spending a lot of time on Facebook is an activity that hinders the productivity of a person. Work Cited Page Aspca.com. 2012. “Pet statistics.” 26 November 2012. Hornyak, T. 26 November 2012. “More Facebook friends = more stress, poll finds.” 26 November 2012. < http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57554356-1/more-facebook-friends-more-stress-poll-finds/> Musil, S. 23 November 2012. “About – face on e-mail surveillance bill.” 26 November 2012. < http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57553693-92/about-face-on-e-mail-surveillance-bill/> Reisinger, D. 26 November 2012. “A Black Friday tale of two stores: Apple vs. Microsoft. 26 November 2012. Tam, D. 13 November 2012. “Pet sitting DogVacay fetches $6 million more in funding.” 26 November 2012. Whittaker, Z. 26 November 2012. “Killer robots? Cambridge brains to assess AI risk.” 26 November 2012. < http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57553993-76/killer-robots-cambridge-brains-to-assess-ai-risk/> Garrison, Ray, and Eric Noreeen. Managerial Accounting (10th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin. 2003. Print. Read More