I am intrigued by the article: Presence Is Something You Could Build Now, by Chris Brogan. He explains that we should be constantly contributing online to blogs, social media, and any other useful form.

I really like how Brogan explains in depth how we should be constantly contributing (especially in a helpful manner) online. He states that we should be contributing online because…well…he doesn’t exactly know, because nobodyexactly knows how it will be useful in the years to come. I personally see opportunities for an online presence to be seen for future employers. It would be extremely impressive to see a large list of helpful contributions and the such with just a simple Google search of a name. Especially after reading this blog post, it has persuaded me to continue to blog, even when it’s not for COMM 101 marks. The benefits of blogging about useful topics will largely outweigh just 10 percent of a class mark; it could mean a job in the future for me. Especially with the way the internet has grown, it will be increasingly beneficial for me to continue to grow my online presence.

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/buildyourpresence/

My colleague, Daniel Duncombe, wrote an intriguing post regarding the rising farm prices in Canada. He explains how the price of farms are increasing, and many farmers are near retirement and do not have successors to take over their farms.

To me, this is a very large, upcoming issue. A large portion of Canada’s economy is revolved around our land, and the products that are grown on it. Especially with the decrease of people that are interested in farming (as it is sometimes thought of as a “dying industry”), this could spell trouble for our economy. A decreasing supply of raw goods from farms in the future will lead to a increase of price of the few products that remain.

The high entry cost of farming does not provide incentive for young adults to get into the farming business. For me, I come from a farming background, and would be ecstatic if I could one day start a farming operation. But unfortunately, it does not seem like a financially sound decision now. The entry cost would be too high, and risk would be too great for a young adult, just out of university.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/soaring-farmland-prices-a-crisis-in-the-making-don-pittis-1.2420223?cmp=rss

https://blogs.ubc.ca/danielduncombe/

In Ali Jatoi’s Blog post: Why Are So Many Athletes Promoting Junkfood?, he explains the growing concern of popular athletes that are advertising for “junk-food”. It is indeed, a growing concern that athletes are promoting this food that they do not indulge in often.

It completely makes financial sense for companies to go after famous athletes to promote their products. Millions of children have an athletic hero, and they follow everything that they do. Therefore, an avid basketball player seeing Lebron James (NBA Superstar) eat a hamburger from McDonalds would be falsely persuaded to think that Lebron eats the product constantly and it contributes to his overall game. Basically, this is just a growing concern among this generation. This is a generation where a health-conscious movement is growing, and it doesn’t help when we see famous athletes/celebrities advertise for junk-food. It isn’t a financial problem for companies, but it is definitely an ethical one, which can hurt financials in the future. A company, especially as large as McDonalds, should not risk the publicity and risk of a negative reputation from using famous athletes as promoters of their unhealthy products.

https://blogs.ubc.ca/alijatoi/

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/athletes-in-junk-food-ads-send-kids-mixed-messages-1.1913330

A french court has ordered Google to remove nine different picture links of former Formula One Chief Max Mosley. The pictures were of Mosley involved in an orgy. He apparently paid each woman in the orgy $4,000, and he stated that posting these pictures is breaching his privacy.

This is a large inconvenience for Google, as it must remove the picture and the link from its sites. However, other people will continue to post the links, so Google is forced to try and delete the links as soon as possible once they have been uploaded. In response to the court ruling, Google stated that it would be required to create a new software filter that could detect new versions of the photo and delete them.

Google is obliged to fulfill the requirements that the court has given them. Removing these pictures seems like a waste of money for Google though, as they will be forced to constantly monitor if new photos have come up. Especially with the power of the internet, these photos will not be able to disappear. They will now be circulating heavily.

Searching up “Max Mosley” on google images shows that google is has not been successful with hiding the pictures thus far.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/06/google-remove-max-mosley-orgy-pictures

Data from the Canadian National Public Health Survey is showing surprising results regarding smoking. Both males and females show that when married, there is a significant smaller percentage of smoking when in comparison to divorced and single people. In most cases, couples tend to want to ensure that their significant other is healthy and well, which is why married people are less likely to smoke.

This is very important for the Canadian health system. Canada is showing a constantly decreasing rate of marriage, which will eventually cause an increase in smoking numbers. As well, unmarried people tend to drink more, which will also hurt the health system.

Canada should follow in Britain’s footsteps. Britain is currently enforcing a state-run program of marriage counseling, and is looking into other methods to get people married, and stay married. If Canada could replicate this and increase their marriage rates, it should put less pressure on the health care system and make it cheaper for everyone. The main problem of course, is that employing a country-wide service such as marriage counseling would create a significant financial burden. However, Canada should investigate if the benefits of marriage on the health system outweigh the costs.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/want-to-smoke-less-get-married/article15348156/

Tesla Motors has recently been blossoming as a new competitor in the electric car/zero emission industry. As shown with the graph above, the stock experienced a large fluctuation in value in this last year, but has been suddenly decreasing in the last weeks. Why? The batteries of which the cars operate from have been catching fire. Three cases have been reported within the last six weeks, and this is causing many investors to lose faith in the growing company.

Obviously, with their cars catching fire, this is an enormous obstacle that Tesla must overcome. They should investigate each individual case to determine what the cause was, and then find an appropriate solution which can be modified on new cars sold, as well as being installed on already-sold cars. If the company is able to reduce these accidents that are occurring, the company should be able to regain its lost market value and increase at a rate of which it previously saw earlier in the year.

If Tesla can fix the batteries that are catching fire, I see the company growing substantially. Many people are becoming more conscious about the environment and will place a high price on something to reduce their emissions.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2013/11/tesla-motors

http://www.teslamotors.com/en_CA/

Blackberry is continuing to fail. It is has not kept up to date in the latest technological changes and as a result, the share price and the company itself has diminished to only a fraction of the company it once was.

Blackberry has rejected offers from FairFax Financial, (Its largest shareholder), to take the company private, included one generous offer of 4.7 billion. At this point, Blackberry is too far behind other smartphone companies to catch up. It is being demolished whilst attempting to catch up with Iphone, Android, and is even behind phones with Microsoft Windows.

Blackberry should have taken the money that was offered at 4.7 billion. Just by looking at the graph shown above, Blackberry has been struggling immensely within the last years, and perhaps by being taken private they will be able to see some sort of profitability emerge.

As well, BBM (a free messaging service offered by Blackberry), is now offered on Android and Iphones. This is a very interesting strategy for Blackberry, as the BBM interface used to be exclusive for Blackberry phones only. Within the next few weeks, we should be able to tell how the company benefits from this strategic move.

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21589445-fallen-star-smartphone-industry-things-go-bad-worse-only-thorns

The popular hot sauce Sriracha may soon be in short supply if their factory is shutdown. The “Huy Fong Foods” company is being sued due to its primary factory releasing strong odors that are a public nuisance. Approximately 100 million pounds of peppers are processed here a year, so pungent, spicy smells are released into the environment that causes many people to hide indoors to avoid headaches and coughing.

The city of Irwindale, California, is suing for the smell that is hurting the city’s residents. They want the factory to be a good neighbor and increase air filtration methods or have it closed down to prevent further harm to the residents. Strangely, the man suing the company speaks highly of the product itself, but is overcome by the smells and its effects on the community.

Huy Fong Foods should increase its air filtration techniques. Residents can smell the odors from over half a mile away, and those who are close have burning eyes, coughing, sneezing, and many other symptoms which are a nuisance. The quicker they do this, the less legal problems they will encounter.

As a UBC resident, I rely heavily on Sriracha for making cafeteria food edible, so I hope the company maintains its production.

http://www.huyfong.com/no_frames/product.htm

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/30/calif-town-sues-sriracha-chili-sauce-maker-over-smell/

Bitcoins are a digital currency that has been growing in popularity since its release in 2009. The world’s  first bitcoin ATM machine is to be introduced in Vancouver next week. On this new ATM, users are required to use a palm scanner and are limited to a maximum of $3000 exchanged per day. Cash is basically exchanged for bitcoins which are placed into your bitcoin wallet online. The introduction of this ATM, (and others soon across Canada), is to attempt to make bitcoins better known, more accessible, and overall easier to exchange.

Bitcoins have their drawbacks, such as their lack of control from a bank and their ability to be more anonymous than other currencies. They have been involved in a popular online drug marketplace that used bitcoins as currency.

I do not see a digital currency becoming overly popular to most people. Why would somebody go through the hassle of exchanging Canadian dollars to bitcoins to purchase online? Paypal already accomplishes this task, and is substantially more convenient that bitcoins. The dark past of bitcoins being involved in anonymous drug purchases will hurt its ability to move forward as a socially accepted currency as well.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/world-s-first-bitcoin-atm-goes-live-in-vancouver-next-week-1.2251820

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2AjPfHTIS4

I recommend that you watch the video link above before reading the following blog post.

Mobile giant Samsung is releasing a new product: Samsung SmartWatch. Basically, a mini computer that connects you to your Samsung phone via bluetooth technology so you do not have to constantly take our your phone with every “beep” you hear.

How successful will this product be? I would anticipate not very. From a student’s point of view, there is no possibility of paying a large sum of money just so I can have the availability of my phone functions on my wrist, even though my phone is merely in my pocket. The only market I really see for this product would be high income/ business groups that would like to increase efficiency, and by increase efficiency, I mean “Now I don’t have to take out my phone as much”. As well, I anticipate the watch having some technological bugs at first that will create inconvenience for many.

The technology on the watch is nothing too revolutionary either. You can call, text, and use voice control, but the watch itself does not connect to any data network or anything of the sort. In the big picture, the watch really does not add much convenience to normal phone users.

In my opinion, the SmartWatch will not be a success. Watches are made to tell time, and that thought is integrated into most humans heads. If we try to replace the “watch to time” relationship with a new “watch to phone” one in peoples’ heads, I do not see that as a successful marketing strategy whatsoever. Samsung should continue doing what they are doing well, and that is offering a quality product that actively competes with apple.