In Nonstop Whirlwind of Campaigns, Twitter Is a Critical Too

Posted by & filed under exam2012A, politics, Twitter.

Description: When Newt Gingrich said in a recent debate that he was a man of “grandiose” ideas, Mitt Romney’s campaign pounced. It sent mocking Twitter messages with a hashtag, “#grandiosenewt”, encouraging voters to add their own examples of occasions when they felt Mr. Gingrich had been “grandiose.”

Source: nytimes .com

Date: Jan 28, 2012

With 100 million active users, more than 10 times as many as in the 2008 election, Twitter has emerged as a critical tool for political campaigns, allowing them to reach voters, gather data and respond to charges immediately. But like most new media tools, it also carries danger for the campaigns. It can quickly define the political debate, whether candidates like it or not, and a single 140-character missive can turn into a nightmare.

“Twitter has changed the whole way that politics works,” said Teddy Goff, the digital director of President Obama’s re-election campaign. “Not just the press element, but the organizing element and the fund-raising element and the relationship building that all campaigns try to do.”. Read Rest of Story

Questions for discussion:

  1. What are the biggest effects of Twitter in the Presidential campaign?
  2. Can Twitter be a source of competitive advantage? Why or Why not?

Personal Data’s Value? Facebook Is Set to Find Out

Posted by & filed under FaceBook.

Description: Facebook, the vast online social network, is poised to file for a public stock offering on Wednesday that will ultimately value the company at $75 billion to $100 billion, cashing in on the fuel that powers the engine of Internet commerce: personal data.

Source: nytimes .com

Date: Jan 31, 2012

The company has been busily collecting that data for seven years, compiling the information that its more than 800 million users freely share about themselves and their desires. Facebook’s value will be determined by whether it can leverage this commodity to attract advertisers, and how deftly the company can handle privacy concerns raised by its users and government regulators worldwide.

As the biggest offering of a social networking company, the sale is the clearest evidence yet that investors believe there is a lot of money to be made from the social Web. Facebook’s dominance in this field has left Google, a Web king from an earlier era — less than a decade ago — racing to catch up. Read Rest of Story

Questions for discussion:

  1. Is the suggested market value an accurate valuation of Facebook? Why or why not?
  2. What are the assets that Facebook possesses?

The ultimate tool for the ‘me’ generation

Posted by & filed under Apple, Blackberry, Hardware, iPad.

Description: Martin Timusk uses his iPad for everything. From sending e-mails to reading the news, communicating with work and doing work, to following digital threads and playing on Google Earth, his iPad is something of an appendage.

Source: globe and mail .com

Date: Feb 2, 2012

Though the format hit the market only in 2010, its market penetration is remarkable. Last October an Ipsos Reid study found the growth rate of tablets to be outpacing that of smartphones by about three to one, and there are no signs of a slowdown. Tablet sales are expected to rise this year, and projections show that roughly 5 per cent of those sold in Canada in 2012 will go to households that already own at least one device.

Unlike the car, the television, the radio and other big ticket items that took decades before a single household considered owning more than one, tablets achieved this over months. Read Rest of Story

Questions for discussion:

  1. Why has the Ipad been such a success as compared to the competition?
  2. Is the Ipad a Disruptive technology?  Why? or Why not?

Obama and Romney Campaigns Adopt Square for Funding

Posted by & filed under e-payment, Ecommerce, iPad, iphone, politics.

Description: Social media was a game-changing technology that helped alter the course of the 2008 presidential election. In 2012, mobile payments could be the transformational technology, as millions of political supporters are given the ability to collect money on smartphones for candidates.

Source: nytimes.com

Date: Jan 30, 2012

On Monday, President Obama’s re-election campaign announced that it would immediately begin using Square, a mobile payments start-up company based in San Francisco, with campaign staffers and some approved volunteers. “Squares are being sent to our campaign offices across the country,” said Katie Hogan, a spokeswoman for Mr. Obama’s re-election campaign.

The announcement is just the first part of the strategy the Obama campaign plans to employ for mobile donations over the coming months.

“Eventually we want to make a version of the Obama Square application available to everyone from within the App Store,” Ms. Hogan said, referring to Apple’s iTunes store for apps. “Someone who is a supporter of the campaign can then download the app, get a Square attachment and can go around collecting donations.” The application would automatically send donation money directly to the Obama campaign.  Read Rest of Story

Questions for discussion:

  1. Will this increase the amount of money donated to campaigns or just divide up the money pie differently?
  2. What are the risks or downsides of utilizing this technology?

Bowing to Critics and Market Forces, RIM’s Co-Chiefs Step Aside

Posted by & filed under Blackberry, business models, disruptive technology, Hardware, industry analysis.

Description: Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, who made the BlackBerry a leading business tool but then presided over its precipitous decline, said they would step down on Monday as co-chairmen and co-chief executives of Research in Motion.

Source: nytimes .com

Date: Jan 22, 2012

Stiff competition from the Apple iPhone and phones using Google’s Android software drastically eroded RIM’s share of the American smartphone market to about 9 percent in the third quarter of 2011 from nearly half the market two years earlier, according to Canalys, a market research firm based near London. The company’s stock price reflected that by dropping about 75 percent in the last year.

But while Mr. Balsillie and Mr. Lazaridis, who have become the targets of some disgruntled shareholders, are stepping aside, investors and others looking for changes in the company’s strategy may be disappointed. Read Rest of Story

Questions for discussion:

  1. Will the resignation of the co-chairman tune around the fortunes of RIM in the Tech marketplace?
  2. Why do you think that RIM has declined so rapidly in their market space?
  3. What does RIM need to do to turn this situation around and get back to being a market leader in this market space

Does Technology Affect Happiness?

Posted by & filed under Hardware, Human Resources, IS ethics.

Description: A study from Stanford University, published Wednesday, wrestles with a new question: How is technology affecting their happiness and emotional development?

Source: nytimes .com

Date: Jan 25, 2012

The research raises as many questions as it seeks to answer, as the scientists readily acknowledge. That is because the research was based on an online survey taken by more than 3,400 girls, a sample that may well not be representative of the larger population and, because the responses are self-reported, are not subject to follow-up or verification by the researchers.

Among the crucial questions that the researchers were not able to answer is whether the heavy use of media was the cause for the relative unhappiness or whether girls who are less happy to begin with are drawn to heavy use of media, in effect retreating to a virtual world.   Read Rest of Story

Questions for discussion:

  1. How is technology affecting their happiness and emotional development?
  2. Do you have confidence in this studies finding? Why or Why not?

How Google keeps your secrets private

Posted by & filed under Google, Privacy.

secrets private

Description: How does a company that collects so much information from its users keep all that data private?

Source: cnn .com

Date: Jan 25, 2012

As part of that tune-up, Google on Tuesday made the major announcement that it has streamlined its privacy policy. Instead of 70 policies across each of its products — search, maps, Gmail, etc. — Google will consolidate most of them into a single, shorter, privacy agreement. Whitten wrote in a blog post Tuesday that the move is designed to add clarity to Google’s privacy stance.

Google has begun notifying its users of the changes. The company also began a massive publicity campaign this month, putting advertisements about privacy in major cities throughout the country .Read Rest of Story

Questions for discussion:

  1. How secure is your privacy with Google?
  2. Why is Google changing how they handle our privacy?  Is this for the customers’ benefit?

How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work

Posted by & filed under Apple, outsourcing.

Description: Not long ago, Apple boasted that its products were made in America. Today, few are.

Source: nytimes .com

Date: Jan 21, 2012

When Barack Obama joined Silicon Valley’s top luminaries for dinner in California last February, each guest was asked to come with a question for the president.   But as Steven P. Jobs of Apple spoke, President Obama interrupted with an inquiry of his own: what would it take to make iPhones in the United States? Read Rest of Story

Questions for discussion:

  1. Why did the U.S. lose out on iPhone work to oversees markets?
  2. What do you think could be done to make it so iPhones are made in America rather than overseas?

Apple lifts the veil on its plans to remake the educational landscape.

Posted by & filed under business models, digital divide, disruptive technology, exam2012A, industry analysis, iPad, M-commerce, online education, Uncategorized.

Description: Apple wants Schools to center on Ipads

Source: cnn .com

Date: Jan 17, 2012

Questions for discussion:

  1. Who are the winners in using this technology to transform the text book industry?

2. Who are the losers in using this technology to transform the text book industry?

Young, in Love and Sharing Everything, Including a Password

Posted by & filed under exam2012A, hackers, IS ethics, Uncategorized.

Description: It has become fashionable for young people to express their affection for each other by sharing their passwords to e-mail, Facebook and other accounts.

Source: nytimes .com

Date: Jan 17, 2012

“It’s a sign of trust,” Tiffany Carandang, a high school senior in San Francisco, said of the decision she and her boyfriend made several months ago to share passwords for e-mail and Facebook. “I have nothing to hide from him, and he has nothing to hide from me.”

“That is so cute,” said Cherry Ng, 16, listening in to her friend’s comments to a reporter outside school. “They really trust each other.”

We do, said Ms. Carandang, 17. “I know he’d never do anything to hurt my reputation,” she added.

It doesn’t always end so well, of course. Changing a password is simple, but students, counselors and parents say that damage is often done before a password is changed, or that the sharing of online lives can be the reason a relationship falters.  Read Rest of Story

Questions for discussion:

  1. What are the privacy issues that are at stake in this story?
  2. Is there any upside to sharing your password with someone else?