Taiwan based electronics manufacturer HTC has recently made its official foray into the tablet market with its new Jetstream tablet.  Although HTC made a little noise with the HTC Flyer last year, the new Jetstream will actually be a direct competitor to the iPad 2…well; actually it will be a direct competitor to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Palm TouchPad.

HTC's new Android based tablet could be a competitor to Apple's iPad 2

The new Jetstream will utilize Google’s Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system and will have a 1.5-gigahertz processor and will also have a 10.1-inch screen.  Although HTC has had a lot of success when working with Google (HTC Evo 4g, Evo 3D, HTC Thunderbolt, etc.), the tablet market has been dominated and will continue to be dominated by Apple.  That being said, Apple does need competition in the tablet market, and the HTC-Google team is the right team to do just that.  Samsung made the mistake of not only making a tablet that many courts deemed too similar to Apple’s iPad (an absolutely horrendous ruling by any court and Samsung should look for a new corporate litigation team), but also engaging in the legal battle with Apple all over the globe.  However, HTC not only is a powerful, successful company in its own right (much more successful than Samsung in the smartphone market), but also has the ability to look at Samsung’s mistakes and not follow in Samsung’s footsteps.

The "King of the Tablets," Apple's iPad 2 has been untouchable.

Matt Lundy’s blog on canadianbusiness.com presents a compelling case of how Google emerged from the NBA lockout stronger than ever.  Simply, Google was able to manipulate the lockout to get players such as LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade, to go on a “Google+ Homecoming,” (and don’t worry, I’m on Google+ too).  This is simply another great business maneuver by Google to control every sector of the tech world.  In a Facebook dominated social media landscape, Google must do everything in its power to boost the popularity of Google+ in order to even compete with Facebook.  Although many people believe Facebook is untouchable, even by Google, they forget to look at the past.  Not too long ago, Myspace was thought to be untouchable and Facebook was just something for college kids to use.  However, Facebook soon overtook Myspace in popularity and now nobody in his or her right mind uses Myspace, because Facebook is “in.”  Google will soon do with Google+ what it has done with everything it has ventured into: make it popular!

Being an American, Black Friday is something special.  Thanks to Chris Wong’s blog, I received inspiration to shed some light on one of the most peculiar holiday traditions.  In the States, Black Friday is more than just a day of great holiday sales; it’s a lifestyle.  To be honest, the people who take full advantage of Black Friday aren’t normal.  These are the same people who camp for days to get the new iPhone or Playstation.  These fanatics, however, are given the greatest justification to flaunt their idiosyncrasies because not only are Apple nerds or Sony nerds out to play, housewives and grandmothers are out for the fun too!  One of the most undesirable tasks for any retailer to do is open the doors on the morning of Black Friday.  In fact, last year a salesman was trampled to death at a Wal-Mart because customers were just so exited to get great deals that they forgot about the poor man getting paid minimum wage and killed him!  While these fatalities aren’t a common occurrence in the U.S., they do give an example of just how seriously people take the holiday season.  However, Black Friday presents a great opportunity for retailers to actually turn a profit in an extremely volatile market place.  Keep on spending!

Seriously, it's Office Depot!

Although it is becoming a current trend for large companies to create a fun, low-stress environment for its employees to work in (notably Zappos and Google), companies must be careful not to create entitled, lazy employees who demand frivolous things such as toga parties regularly without feeling the need to actually work for them.  Aaron Chan recently wrote a blog commenting on Google’s fun work environment as well as pointing out the decrease in turnover rate and absenteeism.  In fact, Google was even voted the world’s number one employer by Universum.  While a positive and friendly work environment will in fact increase productivity, employers looking to change their current work environment need to ensure that they strike a balance between giving employees an incentive to come to work and creating a culture in which the employees lose respect for not only their employers, but also for the company itself.  This balance is vital, as falling on either side of the line will be devastating for the company.

In 2005, David Schottenstein had a vision: provide both the rich and famous as well as the business professionals with high-quality, custom-made clothing.  Although the extremely wealthy have been having their suits, shirts, and even ties made for them for a number of years, Schottenstein’s company, Astor and Black, has been extremely successful at providing everybody from doctors and lawyers to Chad Ochocinco and Larry Ellison (founder Oracle Corporation) business attire made specifically for them.  Astor and Black has grown substantially over the past six years; in fact, David Schottenstein was recently awarded both the Ernst and Young Award as well as being named one of the top-30 entrepreneurs under the age of 30 by Business Magazine.  According to Joseph Schumpeter, an entrepreneur is defined as someone who provides new products to new markets, with new production methods and new forms of organization.  Astor and Black has fulfilled all of these criteria perfectly, with Schottenstein representing what it truly means to be an entrepreneur.