It seems as though Netflix is more creative than most people thought.  According to this blog, Netflix knows exactly what type of shows consumers are interested in watching.  By looking at illegal pirated download sites, Netflix has been able to find out what type of shows/movies consumers are most interested in.  By purchasing the shows that are most popular to the public, Netflix has been able to attract more and more customers.  Netflix’s valuation continues to rise and this is no surprise.  With innovative ways of finding consumer preferences, Netflix’s future looks brighter than ever.  As a regular user of Netflix, I have stopped watching cable TV because the variety and the amount of shows that Netflix offers is just so much better in comparison.  It is only a matter of time before Netflix replaces Cable TV with its relatively low pricing and variety of selections.

Cherry’s blog post on Facebook ads presents an issue that is definitely relatable.  Advertisements have always been a nuisance to me, whether it means having to watch them before watching certain videos or popping up out of nowhere while I am surfing the Internet.  When Facebook decided to have the ads better targeted to its users, Cherry mentions that people were clicking more on the ads.  As a Facebook user myself, I have been smart enough to avoid all the advertisements.  I did notice that some of the advertisements were pertained to my interests, but I can use other websites if I am looking for a certain product or service.  Facebook is a website that users use to connect with family members and friends, so when it posts advertisements, I am very unlikely to even glance at them.  Fortunately, some people are keen enough to click on these advertisements and visit these external websites and this is what has been generating a ton of money for Facebook.  As more and more companies realize that advertising on Facebook is not an efficient way to market their products/services, Facebook’s market value may suffer in the future.

Natalie’s optimistic outlook on Snapchat seems reasonable and I completely agree with Snapchat’s ability to continue growing.  Snapchat is a very innovative app and although it seems like a very simple idea, millions around the world have grown very fond of it.  With hundreds of millions of pictures sent everyday on the app, Snapchat has generated the attention of many people.  With the recent offer of $3 billion by Mark Zuckerburg, we can definitely see the enormous value of Snapchat.  However, I do think that Snapchat’s decision to turn down the offer was ridiculous.  Having the ability to sell the company for a whopping $3 billion and just retire and live the rest of your life as a billionaire is absolutely unreal.  The fact that in a couple years if users move away from Snapchat and onto another app will be devastating for Evan Spiegel, the founder of Snapchat.  This could be one of the biggest missed opportunities in history.  Evan Spiegel is taking a huge risk here in believing that Snapchat could continue on and raise its value.  But, to be able to come up with something as innovative as Snapchat shows that there is definitely a possibiliy for more innovation and growth for Snapchat’s future.

With the release of the new iphone 5s several weeks ago, it came to my attention after coming across this article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2013/11/17/the-iphone-5s-review-probably-the-best-all-round-smartphone-to-date/

Funny thing is after reading the article, I could not find one point from the author that I could agree with.  To me, iPhone has essentially been the same since the iPhone 4.  With each new model that they come up with, only the most minor changes are made.  The general shape of the phone looks the same and the operating system interface has always looked similar.  Each year, more and more consumers are sucked in by their deceptive way of advertising.  Apple always exaggerates it’s new features and millions of consumers have always fell for it. Not too long ago, Apple introduced a feature called Siri, which caused a lot of excitement.  The fact that you could command your phone to take certain actions surprised many people.  What they didn’t realize was this was ultimately a rather useless feature because it is much faster to operate the phone yourself then to command Siri to operate it. Unfortunately, most people did not realize this until they purchased the phone.  So what will the iPhone 6 bring to the table and will Apple finally revolutionize the new model?

After working a 16-hour shift this weekend, I took notice of many things.  As a cashier at Save-On-Foods, I regularly interact with customers of all sorts.  However, it seems as though time was passing by much slower at work.  I could see a considerably fewer amount of customers coming into our store than usual.  Eventually, one customer came up to me and asked me if I’ve gotten the chance to check out the new Target that opened up this weekend.  It seems as though the opening of Target has shifted numerous customers away from Save-On-Foods.  But the thing is, it all tied in because customers have always complained about our prices being higher than competitors.  Through my two year tenure as a cashier at Save-On, I realized that our store stresses so much over customer service that we often forget about keeping our prices competitive.  As the sales in our store have declined over the past few years, our managers have not done much to improve the situation.  The most striking question to me is why management hasn’t done anything to changed our focus to make our prices more competitive when customers have been complaining all this time