How true is an online deal? All online shops try to offer thrilling deals, which would save consumers a lot of money, and only a few online shops go on and actually are good on making their claims. A website called Qubits has made sure they can provide the best deals for all the must wanted products at jaw dropping prices. They sell the best apple products and their range runs from iPods to MacBook’s to televisions and much more. Selling the new ipad for at an astonishing price of 54 dollars is shocking. The only way Quibits is able to sell these products at such low prices is through the auction model. Every customer is charged 60 cents to place a bid and the total amount collected from all the bids enables the company to sell goods at such low prices. Most auction winners save 75% off retail. To make the customers who don’t win happy they have a BUY now option. This proposition basically lets customer purchase the product at the listed price minus the value of the bids they place.

http://lifefactopia.com/shopping/Pay_Just_Pennies_For_Brand_New_Products/

Black Friday brings the best deals, which is loved by everyone but is always expensive

Firms change the prices of their goods on this day to attract customers. All the deals are very different as some firm’s offer better discounts than the other. Large retail chains can boost their net profit by a big margin and this can help the firm do better in the short term. Moreover with consumers being in a better debt position and with their disposable incomes being high the spending this time around will be even higher. Thus with around 140 million shoppers expected to go to black Friday the firms are going to earn high returns this year.

To add on, savvy deal seekers spend hours each year discovering which sites have the best deals listed, and what retailers (both online and storefront) that are willing to offer insane deals.  You’ll be surprised that you might have not heard of these sites.

All in all black Friday is a win win for both consumers and the firms.

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/11/black_friday_weekend_expected.html

The awaited launch for the PS4 is seen as the next big thing for next-generation console gaming after the troubled launch of Nintendo’s Wii U.  With all the reviews and assumptions being made everyone says the PS4 will stand out but is it all about the gaming aspect? It has been researched that only 8% of the people responded will by the PS4, which was 14% before. Moreover, the estimate a total overall profit of $250mn at the end of the model life cycle and there is a concern that the end of the cycle will be no more profitable than the start. The PS4 is getting launched at a retail price of 399 dollars whereas the Xbox one is getting launched at a much higher price of 499 dollars.

The Xbox one faced a lot of criticism because of the hinting that there will be restrictions on second hand games and requirements for 24/7 Internet connectivity thus rising questions regarding the launch.

All in all it will be very interesting to see which console gets the upper hand, but this will only be realized in a few months from now.

http://www.valuewalk.com/2013/11/xbox-one-vs-ps4/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24899400

Do you think that it is possible to make poor children clever by spending 4000 dollars on their education? It has become a know fact that children from poorer backgrounds tend to do better education wise as they appreciate it more.

Professor Duncan a well-known economist is carrying out a research study to find out if children from poorer families would value education more if there hardships were reduced. The study will show if there is a link between poverty reduction and brain development. Moreover, with time we would realize whether or not, poor children are getting stuck in a downward spiral of poorly educated parents and bad schools or is it just the fact that they aren’t intelligent.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24821383

Over a month ago, one of Kenya’s prominent and famous mall “Westgate” was under attack by the terriost group Al Shabab. With at least 72 people killed and more than 200 people injured the whole country was in shock. Not only has it affected lives of the people but it also has caused a deep impact on the tourism industry in Kenya.  They have valued that around 200m dollars will be lost due to this attack. Tourism generates 14 per cent of Kenya’s GDP and employs 12 per cent of its workforce. The world travel and tourism, predicts the attack will cost Kenya’s economy $200 to $250 million in lost tourism revenue, estimating it will slow growth of Kenya’s GDP by 0.5 per cent. Kenya’s 2012 GDP was $41 billion.

Thus the tourism industry has heavily been affected by this terror attack. With 1.8 million people travelling to Kenya every year such terror attacks will dampen the growth in the Kenyan industry.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/nairobi-mall-attack-may-cost-kenya-200m-due-to-lost-tourism-1.1478567

It’s well known that beer and hockey go hand in hand when ones watching hockey in Canada.  The conference board of Canada found that 100 Canadian jobs and almost 1 percent of gross domestic product comes through the beer economy. Each Canadian who drinks beer and watches hockey buys an equivalent of 235 bottles a year, which largely contributes to the growth of the economy as it boosts sales and revenue for both the government and the firms.

The beer industry generates 5-8 billion in taxes each year and earns 44 cents on every bear bottle a Canadian spends on. Thus this shows how cold beer has boosted the economy

All in all even though the beer sellers are losing out market share to the wine sellers the economy is still booming due to the amazing combination of beer and hockey.

http://www.bnn.ca/News/2013/11/5/How-cold-beer-makes-Canadas-economy-hop.aspx

With over 60% of the people in the USA owning smartphones, which was only 35%, two years back, shows how dependent people are on their phones and how the smartphone has changed everything.

The younger generation owns them at even higher rates, which is very surprising as the term smartphone didn’t exist until 1997.  The phones before that only could offer abilities to send messages emails and faxes.  The most popular early smartphones was the blackberry, which suited the business world, and blackberry sold over 200 million phones

Over the years the smartphone industry grew and it was not only about the business world but it diversified into making the phone more interesting and fun by introducing various applications.

Thus, the smartphone industry has improved everyone’s lives and it has made it easier for people.

http://lifefactopia.com/technology/The-Rise-Of-The-SmartPhone/

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