Archives: November 2013

Team Assignment Reflective Post

[Source: https://daniel-farm.com/toyota-car-wire-information-car-alarm-remote-starter-keyless-entry-installation-wiring/]

I love our Team Toyota! We have Jessie, Melat, Sujaree, Kamila, myself and Valeria in the team(Please see the picture below). And here is why!

#1: All of us come from different countries: Hong Kong, Ethiopia, Thailand, Russia, Myanmar/Burma and Latvia [Note: the teammate from Hong Kong grew up here so she’s more of a Canadian. Another teammate grew up in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. I grew up in Singapore. And that just makes our team even more  diverse]

#2: We try to make the most out of different strengths each of us have and minimize individual weaknesses. A few members are better at editing and writing whereas some are too good at being creative or with technology especially for the video assignment. We differ in skills such as being detail-oriented and organized and also in how some of us have more interest in coordination and external relations (such as contacting professor and Toyota Dealership). Since we all have other course-works and commitments such as jobs and volunteering, we tried to work things out so we get things done on time that meet the standard we set for ourselves.

#3: What can be cooler than having a team of chicks talking about cars and Auto industry? Yes, we are all girls in our Team Toyota and I’m proud of it! 

#4: We learnt a lot from this group projects! From trying to come to a consensus despite our disagreements about ideas and strategy to trying to figure out how to use certain equipment/computer program, we learnt about each other, group dynamic and new skills.

#5: We had a tonnes of FUN!!!. Having a pizza/cheese cake party before the first/SWOT assignment was due. Filming in the rain. Waking up at 5am to pick up friends at different locations and drive to Richmond to film outdoor.

 
 

 

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Driverless Cars…. Anyone?


Source: http://pocketnow.com/2012/10/05/self-driving-cars

As Google Inc. leads the quest for driverless cars [1], Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker, recently announced that in about two years from now, it will introduce systems enabling cars to communicate with each other to avoid collisions. GM, the largest U.S. carmaker, is also aiming to come up with vehicles by 2020 that will be able to drive themselves on controlled-access highways.

It seems that the auto industry has specific target customers in mind — the younger customers and the elder ones. [a] The automakers see potential growth in the younger ones as they see the value in taking a relational orientation approach. Being young, they would like to have a fun and comfortable lifestyle and freedom to go wherever they want to go. Although they may not have a lot of spending power currently, they will one day. When they do and are looking to make a car purchase, these automakers wish to be in their retrieval set or evoked set.

However, the recent market trend has shown that the younger customers care less about buying a car and more about renting. [2] In fact, more promising customers are the elderly, the fastest-growing demographic in the world. Being involved in the labour market for longer, they enjoy relatively better disposable income and more purchasing power. Often their health slowly deterioriates in terms of vision, hearing and hand-eye coordination, resulting in some accidents. Last april, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration noted that people aged 65 or older accounted for 17 percent of the 32,367 traffic deaths in the U.S. in 2011. This does not necessarily mean that the elderlies are always the ones at fault in accidents. However, it is possible that they may be able to prevent certain accidents if they are in a better health condition. Hence the automakers are looking into becoming a part of the solutions for these elderly.

More info: [1] http://www.ted.com/talks/sebastian_thrun_google_s_driverless_car.html

[2] http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/real-money-with-alivelshi/Real-Money-Blog/2013/9/26/generation-renter.html

Source: [a] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-20/elderly-dying-in-crashes-seen-spurring-self-driving-car-demand.html

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Say NOOOOO to another piece of chips! Or Can you really?

“They taste and smell real but are completely artificial in reality, tricking our bodies.” –Bruce Bradley, a former food industry executive

“Salt, sugar and fat are the three pillars of the processed food industry. The companies’ researches have shown them that when they hit the very perfect amounts of each of those ingredients … they will have us buy more, eat more.” – Michael Moss, New York Times Investigative Report and author of Salt Sugar Fat.

Do our bodies really need salt, sugar and fat — from the snacks?

Can we as consumers make a rational choice on what and how much we consume according to our health situation?

Maybe, we cannot because for most, these products are convenience products but not shopping products.

With so many health problems arising such as obesity, where does the responsibility lie? The companies? The consumers? Or Both?

On one hand, publicly-held and profit-driven processed foods companies hire an army of chemists, physicists, neuroscientists and food scientists 1) to conduct numerous researches finding out how the customers are attracted to food and how they can make their foods (more) attractive to the customers. Considering fullness/satiety as serious enemy, snacks are made to be eaten non-stop until the packet is finished.

The scientists, carrying out a Unilever-funded research study, tested whether people’s perception of a chip was altered by the sound/crunch it made when they bit into it. They found a possible way to control the perception of the potato chips since “[they] were perceived as being both crisper and fresher when … the overall sound level was increased although the consumers are often unaware of the influence of such auditory cues.”

On another hand, I suggest the consumers need to learn how to have an equivalent amount of will power resisting these crunchy, tasty and temporarily-satisfying chips.

Sources: [1] http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/food-cravings-engineered-by-industry-1.1395225

[2] Photo of Miss Vickie’s:  http://www.sld.com/before-and-after-miss-vickies/

[3] Photo of Lay’s: http://www.couponaholic.net/2012/06/new-0-551-lays-potato-chips-0-551-sun-chips-printable-coupons-plus-pepsi-mountain-dew-12-pack-coupons-still-available/

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