Month: November 2012

What’s more exciting than Black Friday this time of the year?

This year, Wal-Mart has decided to go about the popular Black Friday a different way: by announcing the deals on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day at 8 p.m. This is the earliest Wal-Mart has ever revealed its deals, compared to the 10 p.m. last year. This decision was apparently made in response to the customer feedbacks of wanting to shop earlier. According to Duncan MacNaughton, Wal-Mart’s chief merchandising officer, this year’s deals will be “some of the most aggressive” the retailer has ever had.

Black Friday has always been the craziest shopping day in the United States history. Conflicts regarding customers not being able to purchase their desired goods have happened more than enough. As the lineup is often formed a day, or even two days before the actual Black Friday opening, Wal-Mart is smart by releasing the deals earlier than others. This way, customers can not only preview the deals earlier and have more time to decide what to purchase, but also let them shop and go to bed earlier. Wal-Mart has made a smart move this time, and whether it will be successful or not will be shown after Black Friday.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/08/news/companies/walmart-black-friday-deals/index.html?iid=HP_MP_River

Furniture giant IKEA expressed regret and remorse that it benefited from the use of forced labour in the communist East Germany.

The use of forced prison labour in the 1960s was quite common, with IKEA being one of the many companies that utilized it. The company recently released an offiicial report stating that East German prisoners, with many of them being political dissidents, participated in the manufacturing of the goods that were supplied to IKEA 25 to 30 years ago. The managers of IKEA were also aware of this matter and tried to prevent it, though was unsuccessful.

Jeanette Skyjelmose, an IKEA manager, showed great regret and stated that “The use of political prisoners for manufacturing was at no point accepted by IKEA.” She said that the control system back then was at no comparison to the one today, leading in such tragedy. The chairman of the victims’ group UOKG, Rainer Wagner is thankful for IKEA to take the lead on this and pleads IKEA and the other companies to consider compensating these prisoners as most of them suffer form both psychological and physical disorders.

The exploitation of prisoners is not rare, and has not only happened in East Germany. Peter Betzel, the head of IKEA Germany said the company will continue to investigate this matter and support the rest of the prisoners in the future.

How can the Hostess Twinkies CEO triple his salary while filing for bankruptcy at the same time? And even worse, blaming the union workers for his failure?

As people are frenzying over the discontinuation of the good old Twinkies snacks, perhaps not a whole lot have paid attention to its CEO  and his tripled salary of $2.55 million. In response to Chris in Paris’s blog on the America Blog, I think it is critical for consumers to have the chance to witness this side of the news.

In our society today CEOs are often seen as “Gods and Goddesses.” Corporates pay them insane amounts apparently expecting some Steve Jobbs magic. This is usually not the case, however, and many examples of failures are present. While only the 1% are by their own set of rules, the rest of the people are often being exploited, vulnerable and defenceless.

Something has to be done. It is ridiculous what CEOs are able to do these days and someone has got to stop them (just like the Tea Party example mentioned in Chris’s blog). The government can demand moderate salaries for executives in companies that receive federal fundings or subsidies. And if a company does not have any form of funding from the government, it can qualify by providing a specified executives’s salaries summary to the government.

http://americablog.com/2012/11/hostess-twinkie-ceo-salary.html

RIM is trying to make its way back in the cellphone market with its new free call feature on BBM.

Despite continuously losing market shares to smartphone giants like Apple and Samsung in the past few years, RIM still has a great advantage in developing countries where texting is an expensive luxury. In countries like South Africa, 98% of the BlackBerry users use the BBM feature regularly, sending texts and pictures and participating in group chats. With that being said, it is crucial for RIM to hold on to these customers when its rivals are taking over in the more developed countries.

So far this feature is only available in the “Beta Zone” for BlackBerrys running newer versions of RIM’s software. Though functioning just like a phone call, it will only work through the connection to a localized WiFi network.

The viability of this so-called new feature however, is questionable as it is already overdone. Applications like the popular Skype and Whatsapp, and Iphone’s fairly new feature iMessage have long been present before RIM’s BBM.

BBM used to be RIM’s point’s of difference. Now, even with the additional its new feature of free calls, it is merely a point of parity.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/mobile/rim-adds-voice-feature-to-bbm/article5274314/

Humans are about to view the Earth in a whole new way.

UrtheCast, the Earth video camera, is about to launch the world’s first high-definition video platform of Earth that is streamed from space. With the help of prominent aerospace partners RSC Energia and RAL Space, UrtheCast is building two cameras onboard the International Space Station. This revolutionary device will allow videos of Earth be streaming across the globe. Not only can it be accessed on the web and smartphones, it can be used in aid of educators, environmental services, and humanitarian relief organizations.

Wade Larson is UrtheCast’s director, co-founder, and executive vice president. As a Sauder graduate, Larson has over 17 years of space experience at the Canadian Space Agency and at MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Corporation. One might ask why he would quit his job and take the risk to invest in something that has never been done before. The answer is simply because it is his true passion and he sees the magnificent success in the future.

In the beginning of 2013, one medium-resolution and one high-resolution camera will be launched to space by the Soyuz Mission and be mounted to the underside of the Russian segment of the Space Station. In the beginning of 2012, people will be able to see the stories of earth like never before.

http://www.urthecast.com/

Energy Aware is a company founded in 2005 that is based in Vancouver, BC. Seeking to connect people to resource conservation, the company is working on being the most innovative developer of the “residential demand-side management products.”

So what’s so special about this green company? It is founded by our very own Sauder graduate, Janice Cheam. During her senior year at the Sauder School of Business at UBC, she had the opportunity to take part in the “New Ventures” course, which is a 4th year senior class where Sauder and Engineering students come together to create a practical business plan with an actual prototype. From there, she started to participate in various business competitions, and through that received her first funding of her company.

Today, Energy Aware’s The PowerTab is selling in five major countries in the world under the condition that the smart meter is already installed, though it is still unavailable in BC. It is an in-home display device that provides customers wireless real-time information on power consumption and electricity rates. This user-friendly product gives homeowners instant access to the information they need to make choices about their energy use.

The company has just doubled its office space and is hoping to grow to a 100 million company in the span of five years.

http://www.energy-aware.com/