Twitter project

For my Computer-Mediated Communications class I will be building a twitter score calculator that will help those that are active on twitter to know how much they contribute to twitter. If you want to know your twitter score, you will post a new status update on your twitter and then you will receive a reply with your twitter score .I plan to use python for my project and the resources I plan to use are the internet and python API. For my presentation, I will have a demonstration that shows how my twitter score calculator works. As of this time, I have not found the best method to calculate the twitter score I will research further into what the best method of calculation to use. I am interested to see what some other sites used to calculate peoples twitter score and will present on the different methods that I discovered. Depending on how much time this project takes me I will try to implement other data calculators. I have already seen some twitter calculators and I have to say that I was impressed with some of their GUI’s. I also liked how some of them provide a graph for the user to look at and compare with other twitter scores I might add a high score to my tool. 

Truly a $25 PC

David Braben has developed a twenty-five dollar personal computer. Don’t believe me well check it out for yourself on geeks website. It seems that David’s plan is to get children interested in learning about computers and possibly become computer scientist. David thinks that because kids are only learning how to use computer applications like word and PowerPoint and never learn how a computer works they will never become interested in developing software for computers. Therefore, David made a twenty-five dollar computer that will allow every child to have a PC. Each PC will be able to access the internet and run a few programs such as word but what makes these computers so great is they will allow the kids to learn some basic programming. I think that this is a great way to get kids interested in the computer science field. I also think that this device will get children to appreciate what their computers consist of even if they do not become computer scientist they will have a basic understanding of how their computers work. On a side note I have to say that I am fascinated with the device and if it is available to purchase I will buy it for twenty-five dollars just to see how it works and maybe for a portable computer.  

Is your phone tracking you?

There has been a lot of hype lately about the IPhone tracking you. What some people do not know is that the Android is also tracking you but there is a big difference between the two. When the IPhone tracks you, it only keeps track of the cell phone towers that are used. However, Android collects not only cell phone towers that are used but also Wi-Fi and GPS data, which is a lot more accurate and can pinpoint your location unlike the IPhone. I feel the need to point out that the Android does have an option to turn off tracking so that no data is collected. This feature is not included in the IPhone there is no way to stop the phone form tracking you. Accordingly, to Apple and Google the information that they are collecting is anonymous so you are not associated with your phones data. What is not pointed out is how easy it would be to track someone and associate a phone with its user. As an example, the police use a variety of methods to track people on their phones. They state that they only collect data with permission of the user or a court order. Though some may not realize this, people being tracked by their phone is not something new it has been done for several years now. I found it interesting that just now people realize that their phone is tracking them. What may shock people is their phone is not the only thing that is tracking them. Anything that is connected is or can be easily tracked. Such as your car, computers, phone etc. 

Possible Trouble in Apples Future

Apple needs to take some measures to insure that, it beats Google’s Android in the phone market. If they do not then there might be a repeat of what happened to Apple in the 1990’s when it went toe to toe with Microsoft and lost. Though Apple is not as much as it was but Apple is still considered a premium nitch product. This is what I like about apple I was annoyed with the quality of other laptops that were made out of plastic and easily broke. However, I think that because Apple has lowered some of their prices to become more competitive and sell more than just phones such as Mack books, IPod, IPad Etc. Apple will be able to surpass Google. I would also like to point out that Google’s Android is fragmented because carriers have changed it, which makes it hard for developers to make applications for Android. With apples quality and reliability, it is possible for Apple to overtake the market. I think that Apple has nothing to worry about, Apple has been around long enough that it is well known that they have quality products. Apple has also worked at how versatile it is such as allowing windows to be run on its macs. Personally, I think that is why its mac sales have token off. If Apple continues to do what it is doing and improve the versatility of their products, they will not have to worry about Google over taking the market.

Weekend Social Media

Some claim that Friday is when the majority of people are contributing to the online community. It seems that on Fridays, there are more tweets and people that are on Facebook. Two hundred people were selected to determine what day people were on Facebook the most, within fourteen days. As it, turns out Thursday has the most traffic out of a week.  However, Twitter Chief Revenue Officer Adam Bain states that Fridays are when people are the most active. I think the only reason why Thursday would have more online traffic would be people board at work trying to pass the time or they are making plans for the weekend with their friends. When it comes to the activity on Friday the majority is in the evening when people are at home. I would expect there to be a difference between when people are on Facebook compared to Twitter.  It seems some companies have started to notice the trends of activity on these websites and are trying to tailor when they advertise to the users. As an example for the weekends, a good advertisement would be movie titles or new releases because people are off work and would be able to go the theaters. I think companies should change their advertisements based off the day of the week and the type of common users that are active. It appeals to me because if I have to look at advertisements it might as well be something of interest to me. 

Government Shutdown

In order to solve this problem with the budget both the Republican and Democratic parties need to stop bickering over the numbers and start working together as equals to find a solution. Who cares if you cut $61 billion or $33 billion if you do not make a decision twice as much will be lost when you shut down the local government ran businesses. When they need to be looking at is how much they are taxing the rich and stop cutting heath care and education. How else do they expect this country to have any kind of future if not for the youth and educated. I would also like to point out one big problem with shutting down local government businesses, it will create a lot of anxiety and fear in the public and people will stop spending their money. This in turn will cause the current recession to get worse.

I think they need to pass the bill to extend the deadline for another week but some major changes better start. Otherwise, there will not be much of a government shutdown battle because the government will be shut down. The last comment I would like to make is it would be a mistake for the government to cut military spending not only would that be bad for the people who are fighting overseas but also to those of us who are still here in America. I think the Democratic Party needs to see the importance of defense spending and stop trying to cut back their spending. The main thing to understand is that there are many problems that will not be solved overnight and though we might go through some hard times they will get better.

Done with business plan

Today I turned in my business plan, that concludes the last assignment I had until next semester, and I have to say that makes me very happy.

Dot Com to Dot Bomb

It was quite interesting to hear how the rise of the web was started through someone who was actually apart of the dot com era. I think I would have liked to been apart of the dot com era and take part in the growth of the current dot com industry. I thought it was really funny when Andrew used the dinosaurs to explain how the race for consumers was going between companies like Yahoo, Genie and AOL it was a good way to stay entertained and you still got a lot of information from the presentation. It also brought back some memories of my first computer and what it was like to see the progression of technology over the last 30 years. I thought it was interesting to hear that companies were not only being bought up for millions of dollars but billions depending on how well the company was set up. It was funny to hear that a company was worth eleven million at one point and no one would buy the company but the next day the company was worth hundreds of millions. I could only hope that one day I can build a company and it will be successful enough to be worth millions of dollars, and as an exit strategy it would go to the public. I found this class to be very enlightening and I really liked the gust speakers and thought that they were very informative. I would also recommend for the next class you do the same presentation Dot Com to Dot Bomb with the dinosaurs.

Michele Armstrong from Vulcan Inc.

I thought it was really good that Michele came to our class it was a good chance to see what employers are looking for when they interview people. Michele talked about Vulcan and Paul Allen how the company wasn’t looking for new employees and how the company wasn’t really producing new types of software. She did however gave me ideas on how to present myself to employers and if I was to start a business how to look at interviewees and determine which ones would be the best fit for the company. Another great thing that Michele went over was looking at what the income should be for the industry your looking at, and that you should do research on the company you want to apply for and find out what the median annual earnings are so you know how much to expect. Michele also went over where to look for jobs she brought up a few good places to look for example Craigslist and Linkedin just to name a few. Then Michele went into employee handbooks and how important they are for the employer and the employee. The great thing about a handbook is you can use it to enforce the rules and refer back to it to see how to handle specific situations. I came to the conclusion from Michele’s speech that I will higher some one to higher and firing of my employees. Some one for HR that can know all the regulations and make sure that every one is obeying the rules of the company.

Derek Young from Exit133

This is the second time I have had the pleasure of listening to Derek The first time he spoke in class he was only working on Exit133. In just over a year Derek had opened up new opportunities for himself, it was interesting to hear how the economy had effected his business and how he needed to change his strategy. I think that is an important mindset to have if your having trouble with your business don’t just quit, if you really like what your doing then you will find a way to make the business work out. When Derek first started his presentation he went into a lot of detail about his past which was nice because you got to put a background story to why he is a entrepreneur. As it turns out he didn’t start Exit133 right out of college, Derek worked for REI for ten years before he was able to start his business.

When Derek went into how he received income I was intrigued to know more. What I got from what he said was a lot of the money he makes is not from Exit133 but from another business that is suite133 or a consulting business where he helps set up call centers. It would be hard for Derek to make an income off of Exit133 alone because he doesn’t charge a monthly fee to read the articles. Though he dose make a small income from the advertisements he has on Exit133 but the amount of money he makes off them is minimal. Really there is a problem with Exit133 and that is he is putting money out to the writers but he is not bringing in enough money to supplement his expenses. I think he should look to his other business of setting up call centers as his main business.

Though Derek does have a lot of donations for Exit133 supposedly dose supplement a lot of the expenses. If Derek is happy with how his businesses are running then he should do what ever he likes. I would like to start a business in the way future and I would hope that money is not the main driving factor. One thing I though was a little funny was Derek brought traffic to his website by accident it was because of Google and how it searched. Over all I enjoyed listing to Derek again and I hope that you bring him back in for another class. I don’t remember how many questions I had asked the guest speakers but it was a few.

The Gaming Market

In the past the gaming industry has flourished, ever since the first game hit the public market there were business geared towards the exportation of games. It started out as arcades. When the first console was released it allowed the possibility for a sequence of games to be made for the use of the general public. Currently there are a mass of game consoles available for the public. The game industry is considerably large enough to support new start up game development business. With the continuous release of new games to all of the consoles, it allowed a large market in the gaming industry with new ways to distribute new types of games. At the moment the newest platform for games is social networks such as FaceBook and MySpace. In the next three years there is going to be a new group of consumers in the past most of the games were targeted towards the youth, future games will be able to accommodate more experienced consumers. In the next five years I see an investment into interactive games that will work solely off of body manipulation in order to control the characters in the game. With a new way to interact with consoles there will be an even larger and complex market to be investigated and exploited. There are defiantly some major opportunities to explore in the gaming industry and the new markets will allow my business to grow and become more stable, there is defiantly an opportunity for a small business to such as G-LG to take part in the gaming industry especially because of the large consumer base.

Bruce Kendall, Board of Economic Development for Pierce County

Bruce was a very interesting I fond his initial topic quite entertaining I never really thought about all the mascots and how they really didn’t always make since. Then he went into the development of Tacoma which was interesting in its own way I am relatively new to Tacoma so it was nice to hear what people thought of the area and how it has chanced over the past couple of years and how they are trying to make the city even better. I think Tacoma is a great place and I think that to hear any kind of news on the growth is always a good topic. Bruce didn’t just go into the development of Tacoma and mascots but he also brought up aerospace engineering which is kind of funny because I almost was going to get my degree as a aerospace engineer but when I researched job opportunities in that field I found that the only way your going to get a job is when some one retires because its just a great job to have. I really have just been fascinated with air planes and space flight since I can remember and to hear a little information about it was a good change, I almost wanted to change my degree, but not really. I definitely like when we have a guest speaker it brings a great change of pace to the classroom and it definitely gives me a boost of energy to work hard so that I can excel in a job.

John Dimmer from FIRS Management

John was very interesting, he answered a lot of my questions about financing a business form the beginning to the end. Some of the things he said seemed self evident, such as when you are first starting the business, you need to be the initial investor. One thing I learned though was, use your family and friends as investors for your company at start up. John was able to give a lot of insight on the angel network, how they look at start up businesses and some of the reasons why they would reject a business. I found that part of his presentation very interesting. There was a lot of good information that John was able to pass on to the class I was very interested in everything he had to say and he seemed very knowledgeable on starting a business and what it takes to fund the business. There were a lot of companies that john had started and invested in. one of the main points that I liked about john was he started the Tacoma Angel network to help other businesses to grow and become successful. I think he went a good rout I plan on becoming a business investor after I had some experience in running a successful business. It seems like John really enjoyed helping other businesses grow.

Employee management

My business consists of two main people in the beginning a programmer and a graphics designer. My business will have almost no start up money so those two people will have to be the owners of the business so I don’t have to worry about paying an employee. For any specialty work such as concept art or story lines those will be done by the graphics designer. There will be opportunities for volunteer work, people who are looking to get there foot in the door on a small startup business. Other employees will not even be considered until there is a steady income of at least a million dollars. Then I would hire five more employees based on the needs of the company. I would look for someone in sales, artists for the design of the game, and another programmer. As the company grow I would add employees accordingly. There would be a lot of shared jobs in the beginning, the artist will have to take on sales and the programmer would have to think about funding and distribution of the product for example. In the first five years the company would consist of a skeleton crew the basics of what the company needs to stay afloat. The idea is to keep my overhead low and my income high with as little stress on the company and employees as possible. It would be a hard plan to follow but there is a lot of competition in the gaming market and for a startup company to survive it needs to find a competitive edge.

John Goodman presents to class

I definitely liked John she really got me fired up, I really want to start my own business now, before she spoke to the class I was only going to work for another company, and I still plan on working for another company until I have enough experience to start my own business. I want to make sure that when I do start my business I am prepared and wont make silly mistakes that could lead the business to fail. I will definitely follow the steps she put down such as after I have a good business in mind and write out all the details and I do mean details for a good business plan then talk to a lawyer and if your going to be a corporation instead of paying him offer him a percentage of the company something like one or two percent, that way he is not just looking out for your interest, he has to worry about his share in the company so he/she will work hard to make things work. The next thing you need to do is get a board of advisors and again this depends on what type of business your starting but if you’re a corporation then you would offer them portions of your business and they would be the people you would answer to and look to help you make decisions. If you’re a small mom-pop business then you don’t want to pay people to be your advisors you are going to want to find reliable, experienced people and buy them lunch every once and a while just to pick there brain so you can keep your business on track. I really only covered a few basic things John went over she was really very interesting, I will definitely research a business that I would be passionate in.

Good Attributes V.S. Bad Attributes

Some of my good attributes include programming any type of application, that is the reason why I’ am majoring in CSS, time management is another good attribute I can break down my tasks into manageable pieces so that I can make my time more efficient. I am a quick learner just by looking at something and with enough interest and time I can learn it quickly. I' am very adaptive to new situations if I have never been or done something before I can get the hang of it in a short period of time. finally the last thing I can think of is I’ am very analytical I can break down pieces of information and figure out the meaning behind it. I know there are a lot of other good attributes but at this time that was all I could think of. Some of my bad attributes include, losing interest if I don’t find new and exciting things about what it is I' am doing. I can be a little, undeceive at times when a leader is undecided in a group. I don’t like to get along with people that don’t like me, I feel like why should i try if they don’t like me. I always question my self and think I' am going to do bad or just fail at something. I have a hard time at doing tasks I don’t have an interest in if I don’t like it I just don’t want to be there. along those lines if I don’t like the task i will put it off as long as possible and procrastinate.

Ron Kornfeld from Nimble Source

I found Ron to be very interesting, and diverse in the since of business, he brought up a lot of good points to think about for our business plans, for example who is the business plans audience, who will be the ones reading the business plan, and what we need to do is tailor the business plan according to who will be reading it. If I am going to an investor for money then my business plan has to be centered on my finances, such as what my costs will be, my net income, so forth. One thing that Ron brought up, that I really never thought about before was what the worst thing that could happen to a business, and I found out that it was not if it failed, but if you had customers buying your products, and suddenly you were going out of business with no way to help your employees, or to repay your investors, in this case your not hearting only the business or your self, but other people. If a business was to fail, it should fail at start up when the only thing that is at stake is your time, and maybe a little of your own cash. I was glad to have Ron as a speaker he shed some light on a few questions I had, and made me think about how the internals of a business work.

Five companies for my business plan

Video game company that uses XNA to allow it to be bought from the Xbox 360 market place.The company would produce Xbox games that would be down-loadable to the Xbox via Xbox live market place. The games would be written in C# through XNA that allows you to directly put the finished game on the market place where you are given a percentage based on how many games are purchased.

Software company based on contracts. It would be a higher out company that would build specialized software for any company that did not have the capacity to higher on full time programmers.It would be mainly focused at start-up companies that needed software for example to keep track of there customers information.

Micro ware company for cell phones through windows mobile. The company would build applications for cell phones. It could be based of orders what a specific person is looking for, especially a business or company that would like to have an app for there phone that would allow them to work on the go through there cell phone.

Robotics programmer to enhance the programming for the robotic scrubbers/vacuum/gutter cleaner. The company would take an existing product, that is a robot for cleaning or making life easier around the home and add or change the program to suit the needs of the owner of the robot.

Custom computer design laptop or PC. The company would either take an existing laptop/PC and customize it or would specifically build a laptop for the customer. The company would customize not only the performance and hardware/software of the laptop but visually as well.

Personal opinion of Entrepreneurship

I think its hard to sum up an entrepreneur, mainly because entrepreneurs come from all walks of life, and they did not always choose the path that brought them to starting there own business. Though the book tried to do a good job of generalizing entrepreneurs, and succeeded for the most part I just felt there was a lot more to what makes up a good, successful entrepreneur. They brought up the fact that only one in six million high-technology business ideas wind-up in an IPO, well I think that if you have a good business plan and the determination to follow it through you will succeed if not finically than at least to see your business make other peoples lives a little better, because of your business. If you are going to succeed long term in a business I do think you need to be organized and well prepared with the right people to help you to. If you don’t have a good team then all the pressures of a business fall to one person, they may be able to keep the business running by them selves for a while but eventually as the business grows it will be to much for them to handle. I thought the reading was a good way to introduce the topic of entrepreneur ship but it does not cover everything.

Smart mobs

I liked this guy he was really into getting out there and seeing what was really going on. He would travel all-around the world looking for people and new technologies. I think this guy was really careful on how he worded what he said and the group that presented on him did a great job of portraying him and also they kept there ideas out of the presentation so you could really see what this guy was about.

He talked about WiFi and how he encouraged it all the way I liked how he got in on the ground floor and met the people who are using this technology and those that created the tech. he brought up a lot of great things but what I liked most was when the group referred to hackers and how they are the ones who created the internet. a lot of people think hackers are the bad guys trying to take all there information and take control of there computers but the people that are trying to do these things are not hackers they are called crackers. Crackers are really bad programmers that have noting to do with hackers. 

I think they did a great job on this presentation and I would be willing to read more about this book and  the different places this guy went and who he meets and what he does. I would not have mined reading this book for my presentation.