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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