MBA 5670 - MIS Blog

I personally was very curious aand interested to know more about this topic. I was shocked to see my sister driving me home from the airport and chatting away on the phone while doing an 80. I find it very difficult to talk over the phone while driving simply because I have not grown up with it. In Bombay, it is not legal to drive while talking on cell phones and you do get pulled over by cops if you are seen talking or texting. This article discusses introduction of a computerized car key that prevents people from chatting on mobile telephones or sending text messages while driving. This invention is being marketed as a solution to reckless teenage driving and to stop them from shifting focus from traffic to their cell phones as talking on the phone was found to be at par with alcohol when it comes to impairing judgment and reaction time in drivers. However, I do not believe this is a good idea as it could prove harmful in emergency situations when a person driving would be trying to reach the police or a hospital and/or if the person driving needs to be reached in order to convey some kind of urgent message or warning.

Neda Ansari

I found this article online which provided details of a study conducted by a small Australian research group. It brings forth the problems involved in texting and the common use of ‘textese’, which is usage of abbreviations for faster texting. Textese has been raising alarm among linguistics and teachers. Textese is also claimed to “mask dyslexia” and ruin the conventional English language while a few others believe it makes young people better communicators and is not as deviant as it is made up to be. The study observed 55 undergraduate students who were asked to compose and then read aloud text messages in textese. Although students were able to compose messages considerably faster, many of them took longer to read these messages and also involved more errors. I personally used to text, chat online and e-mail using abbreviations all the time, but I had to break out of that habit as it started to creep into my essays, papers and daily interactions.

Neda Ansari

Due to rising insurance and health care costs, Wal-Mart has decided to give its employees the opportunity of E-Health. linkWith this new feature, employees can log on to the companies intranet and download and print any medical records their physicians require. This option is available for those who are eligable for insurance under its benefits enrollment program. I think this will be good for Wal-Mart employees. After all of the videos and material we have seen of how badly they treat their employees, its about time they do something for them. This would be a convenient way for workers to monitor their health.

If you missed one of our in-class activities this semester, here’s a chance to make up the 25 points: Do a Google search on yourself and see what you can find on the Internet about you. Dig as much as you can, then send me an email within WebCT and tell me what you found out. To receive credit, the email must be sent by Friday night (December 12th) at midnight. Emails sent later than that will not be considered. This is a bonus to those of you who are reading this blog regularly, as those who do not will not know about this assignment.

NG

In this article by BusinessWeek, link, the author says that the US is facing a major threat concerning their cybersecurity. The next President is asked to act quickly and push for a plan of operations in order to prevent cyber thefts from stealing national security documents. In my opinion the threat seems legitimate, and the government and organizations responsible for that matter should act quickly. In addition, it is scary to see that many governmental systems have been broke in multiple in recent years.
Charles-Anthony Levaque

I’m sure most of you have heard that President-elect Obama’s cell phone records had been breached by a group of employees at Verizon Wireless. I’m not surprised at all by this issue. The only thing I am surprised at is that we don’t hear more about this type of security issue. It would seem that cell phone information belonging to famous people would be a lucrative item for people to sell. The article also discusses how PCs from both the Obama and McCain were compromised. The article also reports that Palin’s email had been broken into back in September and that someone breached Obama’s website and redirected visitors to Hillary Clinton’s website. All of this just goes to show what length some people will go to in order to take advantage of people’s private information.

Well Blackberry has finally given in and made a phone without a physical keyboard. When briefly hearing about it, I was pretty disappointed because that’s the one thing I like about my phone now and others I’ve had in the past: the keyboard. Being a bigger person with bigger fingers, trying to type on a screen by touching buttons on the screen is a task that I just can’t do. After reading more about this new phone though which can be found at this link, it seems that they’ve evolved a touch screen into something that I could possibly use. First, you can put the phone sideways and make the “virtual” keyboard bigger which will help. But the coolest thing about it is even though it is on a screen and not a physical keyboard, it actually clicks when you touch it giving you a physical sensation like you’re actually using a real keyboard. Now I’m not saying this is better than an actual keyboard but I am curious to try it out. It is about the same price as the new iPhone after the rebate putting you right at $200 and also offers ap stores as well. This blackberry I think has a really good chance of doing extremely well for many reasons. First, it is no secret that everyone loves the iPhone on how cool it is, the great 3G network, and also the ease of all the things you can do. The drawback for iPhone is its use in a business setting which isn’t all the way there yet. Blackberry is the “business phone” and to turn it more like the iPhone while still keeping all the business uses is what will make it stand out and do very well. I am very curious to see how this does and even though I will not be buying one myself because I just bought the voyager, I will be intrigued to try it out and see.

Jake Byrne

I came across an interesting article which discussed the development of a one click beauty machine by researchers at Tel Aviv University. A mathematical algorithm was formulated by researchers and is applied to instantly beautify any person’s facial features. Researchers surveyed 68 men and women within the age group of 25-40 and asked them to rate the beauty of 93 men and women’s facial features on a scale of 1-7. The results were combined and 250 different facial features and measurements were distinguished. This technology would be fun if it were incorporated in cameras just so everyone can look their best in pictures by just clicking a button. It could also be used in the fashion industry and would cut down air brushing time to a great extent or can be used by plastic surgeons to identify what changes should be made in an individuals facial features and to what extent the features can be modified for best results.

Neda Ansari

I’ve been an XM radio subscriber since 2002. I absolutely love the service and it seems to be worth the $12 a month. However, I found this article that discusses the financial situation of the two companies. I’ve always felt that satellite radio was one of the great recent technologies as it offers so many choices and can be taken anywhere. After reading this article I’m starting to wonder if the new merged company is truly sustainable long-term. I’ve followed these two companies off and on for some time and they’ve never been able to turn a profit and continue to struggle with the huge debt associated with this capital intensive service. Now that the auto industry has taken a nosedive and the reciprocal effect will be a decrease in subscriber growth for Sirius-XM, I just wonder if this business will make it.

Ryan Whitlock

I found this article online that listed various social networking sites used by the influential and the elite. I found it very interesting to learn more about websites used by the rich and famous. I recently had come across news relating to a person posing as a certain celebrity on Facebook, providing a fake profile and fooling fans. It made me wonder if these celebrities and millionaires use any social networking sites at all. Most of these websites for the rich are extremely exclusive and require information on job, titles, income, etc. They have lengthy application procedures and many involve ‘must-have’ criteria. The article provides a brief on some of these networking sites like aSmallWorld, Diamond Lounge, etc. In addition, the article lists a few networking sites like LuxuryRatings.com for sharing luxury brand experiences, Squa.re TV site for luxury, style and hi fashion, and Quintessentially for luxury lifestyle. Most of these websites can be joined strictly by invitation only while some are slightly more lenient.

Neda Ansari