AT&T pulls out of in-flight wi-fi race

US telecom AT&T announced that they pull out of providing wifi in-flight and they will invest the money mainly in “international and video”. Is it profitable to enter the project and provide 4G in-flight connectivity? I think so. But why AT&T pulls out of the project? I don’t know. May be because of too much competitors?

Nowadays, Internet has occupied people’s lives. Most people feel uncomfortable even one hour without Internet, let alone 5 hours, 10 hours or 15 hours. Thus, obviously providing wifi in-flight can get huge profits. I think as far as the price is not ridiculous, most people will buy wifi connection in domestic and international airlines. Since no company provides this service in US now, company who first enters this market can get the largest profit. Also, since some countries have already provided this service, it will not be very hard to invent the skill by American companies themselves or ask for technology support.

Compare to develop business to other fields that have already been developed or even dominated by other company, providing wifi in-flight is more profitable. I am so confused.

article: AT&T pulls out of in-flight wi-fi race

image from: http://www.everythinglubbock.com/story/d/story/att-scraps-in-flight-wifi-plan/63897/5rVTikYjbkSRFY8PMoI3qQ

Who helps make the society better?

In my point of view, social enterprise and Arc both are organizations or person that not aim to gain profit but help the society become better. However compare to social enterprise that mainly have members who have social statuses, Arc also work with students in Sauder.

It is more easily for social enterprise and Arc to help people and countries that are impoverished since who or which country to help are decided by themselves. However, since the United Nationals is an intergovernmental organization, it takes time and discussion to decide which country they should help first, second, third… Also, to me, social enterprise and Arc are more initiative to help people or country than United Nations are. Since social enterprise and Arc are form initiatively and their goal is to help the society. However, help the society is one of many other goals that United Nations needs to achieve.

Arc is very special by having students in the organization. Arielle Uwonkunda who is a member of Arc, brings Arc back to her home country Rwanda. Since Uwonkunda know her country very well, it is more easily and efficiently for Arc to help Rwanda. By participating in Arc, Uwonkunda both helps her country and learns business knowledge herself.

It is important and meaning for to have organizations like social enterprise and Arc.

article: What is social entrepreneurship?

Arc Initiative

Upward Arc

image from: http://timothyhughesuk.wordpress.com/

Response to Baoyi Chen’s Blog: The “Singles Day” of Alibaba

Baoyi Chen said in her blog “The “Singles Day” of Alibaba” regardless of the quality of the goods, Alibaba has great market strategy. I totally agree with this statement. If not, how can sales reach 57.1 billion yuan in a day. I think this event is a big success for the company, but to the customers it cannot benefit them as much as they think.

I participated in this event last year since goods seemed a lot cheaper than normal days. But because of high volumes of orders, it took two or three times longer to get the order than usual. After the single day, the prices of most goods just increase a little bit. The favorable price is not that much then. Also, because of too many orders, the quality of most goods is not as good as normal price. To me these unhappy experiences make the event like deceit.

I know it is not all Alibaba’s fault since it is just a platform to provide sellers, but it is there responsibility to negotiate and manage the sellers in order to provide better service for the customers. If these problems cannot be solved, there will be fewer people participate in this event in the long run.

Baoyi Chen’s Blog: The “Singles Day” of Alibaba

image from: http://www.geekwire.com/2014/alibaba-pace-trump-black-friday-cyber-monday-sales-single-day/

America’s jobs report Deceptively dull

The federal government reported that non farm payrolls rose in October from September this year and the unemployment rate continued to drop in October. All the data showed that unemployment and economy were becoming better. But actually no one feels better. There are two suggested reasons for the illusion of becoming better. One is aging baby boomers retire and some of the long-term unemployed give up the search for work, this decreases the unemployment rate. Second is low productivity and income continues weak economy. Federal government may be more optimistic to the economy according to the data, but what to about the citizens? How can they try to live a better life? Sometimes I am concerned is it most properly to exclude people who give up searching for a job from the unemployed since this action will underestimate the unemployment rate and overestimate the condition of economy. Also should the government publish policies to activate workers and thus increase productivity? I think so.

I am worried about the economy and our future if the federal government does not take action just because what data displayed is a good trend.

article: America’s jobs report Deceptively dull

image from:http://tx.cpusa.org/school/econ/econunemp.htm

Response to Feier Shen’s Blog: The rise of the female entrepreneur

Feier Shen (just called Feier in the following ) said in her blog that nowadays more and more female want to, try to and have their own enterprise. I totally agree with this idea. It is 20^th century now, not 18^th, 19^th or 20^th century. Today’s women are high educated and thoughtful. They know what they want to do and they know they can do things as good as male do or even better than them in some aspects.

Feier also stated that even the process of starting business will not be all plain sailing, we should just try it. This reminds me of the guest in Comm101 class, the owner of Zimt Artisan chocolate, she had no investors, no partners, what she had were her ideas and her perseverance. As a female myself, I know how people would react when you tell them that you want to do something they think a girl better not do, not only in career but also in daily life. The only thing we can do is to prove that women can do that thing better than men do.

I want to start my own company one day. I will keep trying regardless of the difficulties. Since I think I have nothing to lose when I start with nothing but myself.

article: Feier Shen’s Blog: The rise of the female entrepreneur

image from: http://womenentrepreneuship.blogspot.ca/2013/01/indias-15-most-successful-female.html

A New Relationship Needs to Be Established

In 1876, the appearance of The Indian Act allowed Canada government to control most aspects of aboriginal life. However, this act was intended to assimilate the aboriginals. It is unfair for aboriginals to be forced to give up their Indian status after doing some common things like finishing universities and get married. Why aboriginals need to give up something they born with just doing the same thing as others. Under this condition, some aboriginals manage their own affairs and some do not want to give up the welfare of the act like no tax in reserves. Now, because of different lifestyles and the use of natural resources, the conflict between Canada government and aboriginal’s own organization continues. It is urgent for both the government and the organization to find a balance between them. To best use the resources of the country, an agreement must be reached.

In my perspective, aboriginal is a kind of cultural diversity and it is good for a country to learn differences and then improve.

At last, I am wondered why Canada government want to assimilate aboriginals since Canada is very cultural inclusiveness?

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/First+Nation+chiefs+stage+Site+showdown/10215965/story.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/background-the-indian-act-1.1056988

Cuddling koalas is big business for Sydney private zoo

Nowadays, zoos are not attractive to most young and old people since people get tired of seeing animals just through windows and watching performances of sea animals. But some zoos in Sydney provide visitors a chance to “cuddling koalas, hand-feed kangaroos or pat reptiles”. Even the cost is not low, there are still a lot of people who are willing to try. These new activities help the zoos earn money and become competitive among the industry. Also these activities form a win-win situation between zoos operators and visitors. It is a brand new experience for visitors to get close contact with animals which they could just see from far away before. Also, this experience can help people know the animal better through close distance. For zoo operators, these activities can help zoos make money not just through selling souvenirs but also this “close relationship”. The money can reduce the financial burden of the zoo since it costs a lot for the zoo to hire people to take care of the animals. Also, more money means animals can get better food, better care and better life.

Not only in Sydney, but also in other places of the world, zoos provide close contact with animals. For example, in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, a zoo provides the activity of hugging the panda. In the future, there must be more and more zoos to provide this kind of service.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29369091

Why the Adam Sandler deal with Netflix could doom theaters

Comedian Adam Sandler’s four new movies will be released to online subscribes of Netflix first, instead of to movie theater customers. Some theater companies reacted furiously after this announcement. Some claimed that they will boycott the first movie appears in Netflix. Regal Cinemas said customers would know the difference between three stories tall screens and three inches wide phones. However, in my perspective, Netflix’s action benefits producers, providers and customers of the films. For producers of the film, since online film providers and theater companies are competing to get the copyright firstly, film price must increase. For online film providers, more latest films provided will increase their subscribers’ number. For theater companies, it is a great chance for them to develop a new strategy for better development. For customers, they can pay the film once and watch it many times. Also, they can watch the film at any place and any time they want.

Even if, Netflix does not make the decision to buy film copyright firstly, theater companies should develop new strategies since more and more families have home theaters and more and more people rely on electronic products.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/why-the-adam-sandler-deal-with-netflix-could-doom-theaters/2014/10/03/cb4ee398-4a34-11e4-891d-713f052086a0_story.html

Green Energy in Canada

Government of Saskatchewan retrofitted a coal-fired power plant that can capture carbon dioxide. Even though the technology is not new, it had not been used before for its high price. Not all citizens are willing to pay 80% more for electricity price and investors say it is cheaper to pay carbon tax than to buy equipments. But the operator is going to sell the plant’s sulphur-dioxide and fly ash in order to cover some expenditure.

In order to solve the money problem, why doesn’t the government of Saskatchewan just work with other Canada’s governments or other countries’ government since ‘Capturing the carbon dioxide belching from the world’s 2,300 coal-fired power plants is much longed-for by governments keen to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions’. With more funds，scientists can work to improve technology and proven technology can lower the electricity price produced by this green energy. “John Bennett of the Sierra Club, a lobby group, argue that ‘it doesn’t get us off of fossil fuels’ ”. Even this technology cannot get us off the fossil fuel, it can help us reduce the consumption of fossil fuel and extend the time of using this non-renewable energy resource.

http://www.economist.com/news/business-and-finance/21622238-although-saskatchewans-new-carbon-capture-facility-start-technology-still

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