Songyi Fan's Blog

The original post:
https://blogs.ubc.ca/zohairlakhani/2013/11/17/response-to-i-guess-all-marketers-dont-practice-ethics-kean-azarshahis-blog/

Comment:
After reading Zohair’s blog, I found his point quite interesting and compelling and I agree with it. Sexual explicit advertisements are not a ethical thing for some people however it’s very useful in promoting the product. Using sexual explicit advertisements is a good example of utilizing the evolutionary theory and psychology.

From psychological perspective, Sexual need is probably one of the most things to fulfill throughout one’s life. From the evolutionary perspective, Sexual drives and activities are critical to the survival of mankind. Without it, the human race will distinct. So it’s very smart to incorporate sexual elements into the ADs of whatever product the firm wants to promote.

The Original Blog :
https://blogs.ubc.ca/zeenaaltaher/2013/11/05/online-websites-a-necessity/

Comments:
After reading the article Zeena wrote, I found me and Zeena the same opinion on this issue. I agree with the point that online website is a very essential part of business. Not only it facilitates the communication between business and clients, but also the cost of establishing a business is reduced.

In the internet era, most all the businesses must transit their business, at least some part, into online businesses in order to survive the severe market condition. The most obvious example is that newspapers and magazine are no longer solely a physical object due to the decreasing of traditional readers. To attract more readers, they make all the content available online after charging a small amount of money. This is advantageous because the cost of publishing newspaper is reduced. With the lower price, more customers are attracted by business thus increase the profit.

On Thursday, a start-up in San Francisco introduced a solution of all-in-one card called Coin Card which claimed to be a replacement for all the cards in one’s wallet. The small card functions as a storage or a medium for all the card information the owner has. The types of card are not not restricted to credit cards. When the owner wants to use a specific card, he/she can select the card on the Coin. It integrates an wireless phone chips which allows it to synchronize all the card information with the server. The transmitted information are protected by 128 bit encryption algorithm. It also includes a micro-battery which can last two years without replacement. The creator also add some safety protocols to avoid potential fraudulence. For instance, the Coin Card is tied to the phone of its owner. When the server detects the phone is at a certain distance away from his card, the Coin Card will be locked.

In Venezuela, people, some of them even take days off, are lining up before the electronic appliance stores to buy discounted electronics such as TV and fridges. Due to the high domestic inflation, which is as high as 50% in last year, the price of goods and services in Venezuela has soared, so are the electronics. In order to regulate the increasing of the prices and provide well-being to the people, president Nicolas Maduro has imposed a law forcing stores sell electronics at a “fair price” which is far below the price store owners are willing sell them. To control the potential loss from the law, some owners of stores decide to close them. Several people are arrested in this action. Using the troops, the Venezuela government has took over some of stores and force them to open and sell goods to the people at “fair prices”. Although the action is supported by some, either the majority of stores and people are approved this action.

The world’s very first Bitcoin ATM was set up in Vancouver downtown few weeks ago. It has drawn lots attention from the public. Last week, the total volumes of transaction reach $100k which brought a little surprise to its owner Mitchell Demeter, the co-founder of Bitcoiniacs. “We’ve had lineups all day every day,” said Demeter on Friday. The machine allows users to convert their Bitcoin into Canadian Dollar or vice visa. The ATM makes the Bitcoin more real and reachable than before.  The conversion was difficult and time-consuming for people before the ATM machine. The money or fiat has had to go to a online Bitcoin exchange in order to to trade their money or Bitcoin. Now the long process has cut to as short as 5 minutes. The creator of the ATM plans to set up another machine in Totonto in the near future. The businesses based on Bitcoin has been booming in a rapid pace but the future of Bitcoin is uncertain.

Sources

http://o.canada.com/technology/100k-traded-through-vancouvers-bitcoin-atm-in-one-week/

Bitcoin has been a hot topic recently. With the acceptance from Baidu, the largest Chinese Search Engine Company, the price of Bitcoin soar to 350 USD each. The Bitcoin technology is not solely served for a digital currency. It has a lot more financial implications in the future.  For example, people can set up their own assets or stocks by creating a new digital currency themselves or using the existing block-chain of Bitcoin which is required another technology called Colored-coin. Through the mining or calculation of global network, the stocks or the assets can be circulated between the traders with little risk . The value of these specific assets or stocks are backed up by the traded value on the centralized exchange platforms. This technology can also be used to create virtual commodities such as gold and silver. As long as there are entities accept these forms of commodities. In the future, if one wants to have gold, one doesn’t have to own physical gold himself.

Browser has been a standard tool for every personal computers and smart phones. It functions as a viewer of webpages existing in the internet. What would happen if browser take over everything in cellphone and apps are made of individual pages? This concept is realized by Mozilla, who created the Firefox browser and implemented it into a cellphone. With the advancement of the browser technology and the spread of HTML5, everything is made possible. From 2D/3D  games to movie playback, browsers can virtually replace the native applications. Moreover, browser applications can be transplanted to every platform without too much affords from developers. Firefox sees the chance, put the Firefox rendering engine side-by-side to the Linux kernel, and put this unique system into cell phones. The first release phone doesn’t seem competitive comparing to the other Android and iOS devices. This mainly attributes to sluggish experience and lack of Apps. Solving these problems is critical to its survival in the market.

sources

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/new-firefox-os-phone-from-zte-due-in-2014/

http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/03/zte-open-review/

Original Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/10/16/yes-you-can-buy-drugs-with-bitcoins-you-can-also-buy-them-with-cash/

Comment:

Last week, FBI caught the owner of the biggest online illegal drug market, Silkroad, which used Bitcoin as the only accepted currency and which has conducted more than 1 billion USD worth transactions. This news had a huge , however momentary, impact on Bitcoin market. After the news of shutdown of Silkroad released, the price of Bitcoin has plunged ,and it was traded as low as 90 USD on Bitstamp, one of the largest Bitcoin exchange. After market calmed down and realized that Bitcoin is not designed for illegal drug dealing, the price of  Bitcoin bounced back to 122 USD, which is 4 Dollars lower than the price before the crash. Despite the short panic, the shutdown of Silkroad is in long-term a good news for Bitcoin. Silkroad was once the largest Bitcoin online store. Because of that, public sometimes associate Bitcoin with illegal drugs. Shutting down will eventually help Bitcoin gain reputations. Bitcoin, as well as other cypto-currencies, are still in its infant phase, and it has so much potential to be exploited. This technology has a chance replace existing monetary system.

Sources

http://bitcoincharts.com/

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/silk-road-s-alleged-mastermind-how-the-fbi-caught-him-1.1894067

When a company can’t stay with the trend, It will fall behind. This rule is especially applicable in the fast-paced IT industry. Blackberry is of those who don’t value the shift of the trend. Due to the low sale performance of new Z10/Q10, the stock has plunged. Last week, it was bought by a Canadian insurance company.

It was not the case two years ago. They once had as much as 20% share in world cell phone market. The fall can be attributed to the mis-decision they made. When other smart phone companies start working on user-experience and app-development, and users are adopting touch screen and phones with various apps, Blackberry continued with their product lines and old strategy. Nothing new has been made. When they realized their phone is no longer meet the needs of customers, everything becomes too late and the decline of sale is inevitable. The sale of Z10/Q10 is far below the expectation. Being purchased by another company is their fate.

Sources

http://business.financialpost.com/2013/02/13/blackberry-smartphone-market-share-declined-44-in-fourth-quarter-gartner/?__lsa=5ef8-bfe7

Every company has its own ethics which regulates it’s behavior. There are ethics for the society as well as ethics for individuals. In most cases, they exist peacefully but sometimes they do have conflicts. That’s what exactly happened in the summer. Some internet companies are criticized for disclosing clients’ information to the NSA for the reason of national security . This was still unknown until Edward Snowden, who is former employee of one of NSA’s contractors, revealed this secret. It is undoubted that companies provide these information to assist NSA to pinpoint the terrorists. But clients or users give their private information to the company in hoping they will keep it safe and, most importantly, private. So is it really ethical to do so in the name of national security? I believe many companies have had some harsh time confronting this issue. Some of them have compromised while others still value the privacy of users’ information. It is not an easy choice when it comes to the decision makers because there is no right or wrong to this question

Sources

http://www.theguardian.com/world/edward-snowden