Google Street View of the Student Union Building at UBC

In May of 2007, Google launched a new technology called Google Street View that provided panoramic pictures of streets all around the world. From home, no matter where it might be, one could Google any position or address and see images of the actual location.

This past week, Google announced that their Street View feature is now moving indoors. They claim it is a great way to help businesses build their online presence. This new addition will allow people to view 360-degree images inside certain establishments. At first this will be limited to businesses in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the US. The idea is on a completely voluntary basis, and retailers must request a photoshoot or send in their own pictures.

An Australian chocolate shop, one of the first users of the indoor feature of Google Street View

Personally, I think this is a useful new feature. Online pictures will help retailers with marketing, and it will also benefit consumers by allowing them to familiarize themselves with the business before actually going. In therms of privacy, all customers and employees will be warmed about photoshoots and any bystanders will be blurred, so intrusion should not be an issue.

Article Source: Google’s Maps Street View service pilots indoor photos

Many business blogs this month have been written about Netflix’s recent decision to split their movie-by-mail service from their online streaming service. This was a drastic change for the company, and stocks dropped about 15 percent. You can read more about the decision in Maria Jose’s blog, where she describes how the change in pricing affected their company.

Not long after however, Netflix recalled this idea, saying it was more difficult for consumers to use. By splitting the services, customers would have to make two accounts, keeping track of two separate movie lists. Along with this, their bill rose by 60 percent. Later, Netflix confessed that this decision “upset its members and had to cut its estimates as a consequence” (BBC News). Clearly, there was a lot of buyer power that forced Netflix to revert back to its old ways. Now that Qwikster has been abandoned, share prices are already climbing again, increasing by 4 percent. Netflix is still on the rise, streaming to 43 countries and looking to expand to Europe.

Article Source: Netflix scraps plan to spin-off DVD deliveries

Although women’s roles in society have evolved tremendously in the past few decades, this progression has seemed to come to a bit of a stand still. Currently in the business world, women only occupy about 14 percent of senior executive positions at Fortune 500 companies. Since 2005, this number has hardly moved at all. If women in the US now count for over 60 percent of four-year degrees and make up almost 50 percent of the work force, why are such a small number in top management roles?

Peggy Claus, an executive coach and leadership expert in Berkeley, believes that one reason is because men are “expected to showboat a little” and it is in their second nature. However, women tend to be more modest, and if they delve too much into self-promotion they are seen as aggressive. Another reason is that women lack sponsors. In the business industry, it is almost impossible to be promoted without a sponsor. Yet many sponsors are tentative to pick a woman because of “sexual dynamics” and the fear of gossip spreading.

Meg Whitman, chief executive of Hewlett-Packard

Despite these unsettling facts, women must refer to others like Meg Whitman, new chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, as role models. We must remember not to settle for mediocrity in order to be promoted.

Article Source: For Women, Parity Is Still a Subtly Steep Climb

This past week, the world has been in shock over the death of Steve Jobs, founder and former chief of Apple. He suffered severely from pancreatic cancer, and died while he was at home in California. Surely there are many repercussions regarding the death of a man who created one of the biggest technology firms on Earth, and you can read more about what will happen to Apple in Lesley Tupilano’s blog.

Steve Jobs with the notorious Ipad

However, there has been another repercussion of Jobs’ death that has flown under the radar. On Thursday, the day after Steve passed away, the sales of his signature $175 St. Croix black turtlenecks soared. Upon reading this, it seemed a little odd to me. Personally, when I picture Steve Jobs, I think of technological innovation, excellence, and ingenuity. One of the last things on my mind is his choice of apparel. Despite this, sales more than doubled on Thursday, and although they are offered in many other colors, most stores have completely run out of the shirt in black. Bernhard Brenner, the owner of St. Croix, reported that Jobs would purchase about twelve of these turtlenecks a year and wear them just about every day. Now, St. Croix has promised to donate $20 to the American Cancer Society for every black turtleneck bought from their store. Although this is a kind gesture, it still seems wrong to me that a clothing company is getting so much publicity because of the death of an amazing man.

Article Sources:

Sales of Steve Jobs’s Favorite Turtleneck Soar

The numbers of advertisements children are exposed to have skyrocketed. They see hundreds of ads a day, whether it is at school, on TV, online, on the radio, or on billboards. The ethical question at hand is if it is right for companies to advertise unhealthy food

The trix bunny who encourages kids to collect all the fruity flavors

products to children when they are not yet capable of making good judgments.

Just recently, the Cancer Council of New South Wales has called for stricter regulations on promotional characters that encourage young children to purchase unhealthy foods. It is unethical that food companies are spending millions of dollars on advertisements that try to “brand loyalty” between children and sugary, fatty foods. The number of obese children has increased in the past few years, and this could be directly related to the amount of food advertisements they see a day.

A McDonald's happy meal that lures children in by providing a toy

In response, the Australian Food and Grocery Council declared that they stopped using promotional characters that advertise unhealthy foods to children under 12. Other countries have adopted the same practices, but what about nations such as the US and Canada where child obesity is clearly an issue?

Article Source: Call for Tighter Rules on Food Product Advertising to Children