Jennifer Wu

After reading a fellow Comm101 classmate’s blog post about Dropbox’s future opportunities for growth, I immediately thought of the launch of Apple’s iCloud alongside iOS 5.

Apple’s PoP: “cloud” service (media stored on the internet accessible everywhere)

Apple’s PoD: 5GB of storage that syncs automatically with all Macs and iOS 5 devices selected (mostly exclusive, but some basic features can be accessed on Windows)

Compared to Dropbox’s 2GB of free storage (not to mention the additional $2 for every extra gigabyte), Apple has a larger storage to its advantage. However, iCloud is exclusive, but Dropbox allows access from all devices with a web browser, thus making Apple a less convenient choice. (Personal opinion: everyone seems fine with Apple’s exclusivity with its Lion, iOS, and Mac systems, why would iCloud’s internality matter?) Dropbox declined Apple’s purchase offer, so Apple came out with a brand new version of iDisk and MobileMe. Competitive much?

Other cloud services includes Microsoft Windows’ SkyDrive (25GB of free storage, little flexibility though), and Google’s… “storage” (Google Docs, Picasa, Gmail… there is no one-stop access, but offers additional 16 tetrabytes for $4000).

All these cloud services have their own way of attracting customers: Dropbox’s cross-platform-access, Google’s multi-user editing, and Windows’ large storage.

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I recently read an article on Harvard Business Review Blog Network about an open workspace for designers to brainstorm and innovate in. Opposite of cubicles, the workspace is an open 2000 square feet space with portable boards, tables, and chairs. VP of Product Design – Catherine Courage, at Citrix, developer of virtualization and cloud softwares, described the process of how the collaborative space came to be.

Photo Credit: Adam Richardson

The purpose of the open space is to implement different work styles centered around collaboration between people at various work locations. According to Courage, interactions between designers have improved drastically and Citrix is very proud of the collaborative working space. Results have shown in the intergation of design into the process of product development.

This article reminded me of the Zappos working environment, in which all employees worked with one another and developed a strong sense of family internal to the company. Although the Zappos employees work in cubicles, it is because of their telemarket nature that forces them into no other option.

Personally, working in an open space available for discussion with fellow claassmates helps me build a better understanding of course material. Silent work is so last decade.

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Source: HBR Blog Network

A spoof of recently re-elected Gregor Robertson showed up on YouTube two weeks before; it questioned the role of Mayor Robertson when Vancouver was under his lead, and included many controversial issues such as building bike lanes, the Stanley Cup riot, the Olympic Village, and Occupy Vancouver.

Video Source: Mayor Moonbeam on Vimeo. (The original YouTube video has been removed.)

Vision Vancouver suspects that the Non-Partisan Association hired Campaign Research Inc. to post the video in order to attack Robertson to pull votes. NPA spokesman states that he knew of nothing related to this video, but when CTV tried to interview Campaign Research Inc, no calls were answered.

Despite the video parody of Gregor Robertson, he ultimately won the election against Suzanne Anton (who seemed pretty unpleasant after the announcing of the results, and referred to Robertson’s view on supporting Occupy Vancouver). The NPA gained back one council seat in the election, now with two seats instead of one. Prior to the election, the NPA had announced that it was on track for four seats in the council, but resulted in seven seats for Vision Vancouver.

What’s Mayor “Moonbeam” going to do to make Vancouver the greenest city?

Sources: The Globe and Mail, CTV News

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Every household was mailed a voting package regarding the Harmonized Sales Tax in BC, which cost $8.07 million to conduct. Out of the 3.06 million voting packages mailed out, only 1.65 million was returned, with the majority against the HST. The tax has been promised to be repealed in 2013, but in the mean time, BC residents will have to deal with the extra cost.

The comments below the article show unpleasantries of BC dwellers towards the Liberal Party. Before the election, Gordon Campbell had announced that the HST were not in their heads, but publicized his decision to bring in the HST after the election.  

Now that the damage is done, the money that could’ve been spent on education, health care, Vancouver’s new water filtration system, and other public services are sunk costs gone down the drain. Taxpayers now have to bear the burden of having to pay back Ottawa $1.6 billion for implementing the HST (not to mention the $8 million referendum cost). Have they considered the maybe the BC teachers’ union may not be on strike if the money spend on implementing the HST had been used to raise their wages?

What is the BC government doing? I call anarchy, how about you? (;

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Sources: The Vancouver Sun, HST Referendum Voters Guide; Photo Source: Uniter.ca

Before becoming a student at Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, was offered positions within Microsoft and AOL because he developed a music player that suggests songs according to user preferences. However, the entrepreneur rejected the offers and decided to go to Harvard to continue his education.

While at Harvard, he developed a social networking site called “Facebook” based on an idea that arose from his previous school, Philips Exeter Academy, where students posted photos of themselves and created a profile. However, Facebook originally differentiated itself by only being available to students with the domain name “harvard.edu.”

Mark borrowed a mass amount of money from Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin to launch the site, and took the risk of losing all investments into Facebook because they refused to advertise on their website. Unexpectedly, the innovative social networking site became vastly popular in a small amount of time, and Zuckerberg decided to launch Facebook for public use. He is now ranked in the top 20s richest people on Forbes 400.

The creation of Facebook ultimately changed the study habits of many students; look around, how many laptops beside you in Comm101 have Facebook open in their browsers?

Sources: Brighthub.com, Facebook; Photo Source: Telegraph.co.uk

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I read an article in CNN today about our daily activities being carried out with only a phone! Google Wallet’s product manager Freed-Finnegan “hope[s that] one day [we] can walk out of the house with [a] phone in [our] hand[s] — and nothing else.” It immediately made me think of the article on The phone that works like a bank that we were assigned in one of our readings last week.

According to CNN, techonologists are developing “phone prototypes that could be built into cothing, […and] project their screens on your skin.” Frankly, this kinda of abstract technology makes me fear that in the future, humans would be so dependent on technology that there will be no need for us to do anything ourselves. And then comes the fear of artificial intelligence (AI) taking over the world.

Speaking of AI, IBM’s chess master, Deep Blue, a computer that won against the world’s best chess player, was dismantled in 1997. IBM gave no reason of why the computer was dismantled, but there is reason for people to believe that technicians feared that Deep Blue’s intel would unltimately lead to an AI-run world.

Is technology development going to bring our down-fall?

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Sources: CNN, New York Review of Books
Photo Credit: Intelligent-Future.com

In August, China posted a “black-list” of 100 hundred songs and claimed that they “endangered national security.” The list included songs by popular artists such as Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Backstreet Boys (only to name a few). China’s Ministry of Culture requires that songs be translated to Chinese and undergo inspection, review, and registration before being published online. The songs were simply banned because they were not submitted for review.

China censors many websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube; the purpose being to keep society under control of the government. A democracy would not work in China because of the massive number of people, and censorship is a way to keep society under control by disconnecting them from revolutionary ideas. However, to democratic societies, China’s censorship represents a violation of human rights and freedoms, and people have less opinions because they are not given a chance to think freely.

It’s not a wonder that China’s economy is 20 years behind, their economy is limited to the ideas of the Chinese government!

Food for thought: Is China’s censorship of pop songs simply a claim for authority? The content in the lyrics certainly do not represent itself a threat to national security.

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Sources: Reuter’s and Net Censorship Forum

Only 56, Apple founder Steve Jobs died on October 5th, 2011, one day following the release of the iPhone 4S.

A fellow Comm101 class-mate blogged about his death here.

Apple is known to the public for purposely keeping its products a secret until the day of press conferences to build up excitement about the fashionable tech device. However, the long awaited-for iPhone 5 was not launched for sale during the press conference on October 4th, causing a steep decline in Apple’s stock by 7%.

There is reason to believe that the launch of the iPhone 4S is due to the anticipation of Jobs’s death. The Apple stock would’ve been believed to decrease substantially following Jobs’s death, therefore, the launch of the iPhone 4S was only a preparation for the shock following Jobs’s death. Could there be another plot behind these events to manipulate the stock price (a sudden decrease, then a huge increase maybe following the release of the iPhone 5 as a surprise to the public)?

Another theory could be that Jobs was shocked to hear about the decrease in his stock, and it affected his health condition. His death definitely has its impact on the technology oriented world.

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Source: CNN U.S.
Photo Source: OhInternet

Following the release of the iPhone 4S this morning, the Apple stock has dropped nearly 7%. The question that arises here: is the iphone merely valued for its trendy design, or for its functionality? (Personally, I don’t think the iPhone is the best phone in terms of functionality. It’s incompatible with macromedia flash, restraining the visual features of many websites through Safari. However, I find it next to impossible to get used to non-touch-screen phones after the iPhone).

The iPhone 4S has the same exterior as the iPhone 4, but features a much more user-friendly interface that includes a dual-core processor and a high-definition camera.

iPhone 4S vs. iPhone 4: What’s Changed?.

The innovations to the features of the phone should theoretically be more than enough to raise the stock prices, while instead, the value of the Apple stock dropped from $381.80 to $354.24. Although it rose back up again, this is a sign to companies that their product not only needs to be functionally, but also visually appealing (not that the iPhone 4 design is unappealing, but the launch of the iPhone 4S instead of the iPhone 5 is most definitely disappointing).

It’s all about the looks.

Source: NASDAQ

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In July 2010, Ryanair made an announcement to the public about removing the last 10 rows of seats on its Boeing 737 fleet and replacing them with 15 rows of stand-up seating.
The tickets would sell for only £4, and requires passengers to stay standing in their seats for the full duration of the flight.

Despite the concerns of the European Aviation Safety Agency, Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara is confident that the stand-up seats will pass safety regulations.
After receiving large amounts of attention from the media, Ryanair later dismissed the plan as “a joke.”

Much controversy arises over Ryanair’s proposal:

• Would the seats be safe during take-off, landing, and turbulence?
• Are passengers in stand-up seating able to exit the plane quickly in a case of an emergency?
• Though tickets for the seats are only £4, Ryanair charges for many other expenses, such as luggage, food, credit card usage, and even toilets.

Although dismissed as a stunt by Ryanair, the main questions is: Is Ryanair’s desire to attract more customers (therefore gaining revenue) but reducing the safety of seats on the plane ethical when customers are willing to put themselves at risk for a low price in tickets?

Read the article here.

Source: UK Daily Mail

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