Steven (C.H.) Chiang's UBC Blog

Why on earth would you trust YOUTUBE, with the money in your bank?! I’m not trying to say that you can actually do so, but would you feel secure, working with your money on a website that is accessed by 2 BILLION USERS PER DAY?! That’s like 2 000 000 000 / (24 * 60 * 60) = 23 148.1481 people per SECOND!! (1) In the same sense, why would you trust Shoppers Drug Mart to manage your money? Sure, they could give you better rates and freebies. SURE, THEY COULD OFFER “MUCH MUCH MORE!”. But when its all comes down to it, you can’t trust them. Sure one stop shops are awesome, you get stuff and you go home. No running around town. But when you’re talking about stuff like money, which is essential for your survival in the 21st century, a convenience store doesn’t cut it. What’s more, we already have our own banks, and with these drawbacks…why switch now? I believe that when Shoppers first proposed this idea that they didn’t think it through. Expanding from drugs to food to cosmetics to lotteries to books to electronics is enough! Don’t be Walmart, because your convenience comes at the price of others.

(1) http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/16/five-years-in-youtube-is-now-streaming-two-billion-videos-per-day/

During the month of June, not very long ago from now, close to a dozen Chinese workers have attempted suicide, and they all had a common characteristic: every one of them worked for Foxconn, an electronics manufacturing giant that originates from Taiwan with factories in China. Foxconn isn’t heard of much in North America, however, upon closer inspection, it can be realized that it is indeed a LARGE company. One example of this is that it has taken orders from companies like Sony, Nokia, Dell and Apple, for the iPhone and iPad.So what’s such a big company working hand in hand with Apple having issues with? According to locals, people are being mistreated and are working in “often military-style conditions under which factory employees labour”* for extended hours at bare minimum or under-wage. Even though CEO Guo TaiMing insists on doubling wages, the main concern still holds strong to the negative environment. It can be concluded that the business ethics in these factories have most definitely been left out. Such business operations are exploiting the rights of the workers, if a little over a dozen people are willing to voluntarily suicide.

*Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/China+labour+costs+send+Taiwanese+companies+home/3151399/story.html#ixzz0zftosyzp

Since I learned the breakeven concept in class, I’ve had a couple epiphanies. On the way home I took out my iPod and touched the music icon, and then a thought. “I’m always touching that icon the most, why?” I thought. Hitting the home button, I quickly realized I had failed to utilize Notes, Calendar, Maps, Itunes Store, AND Calculator applications! I reminisced back to the reasoning I had given my parents when I had purchased my iPod. “Well, its got more capabilities than the nano. It’s got preloaded applications that I’ll probably use.” Even as I type this, I realize that the topics discussed in class are relatively true, however, some I feel are false. For example, the fact that people get Brand and Product mixed up. Maybe it’s just me and the people that surround me daily, but seriously, no one really mistakens the product with the brand, for example, it’s either Windows 7 or Microsoft. This guy presenting on Youtube doesn’t spontaneously say: “oh and Microsoft can do this”.    If he did that would be just plain awkward.