Archives for the Month of October 2005 on Living my iPod world
Amazon vs. Ebay
Ebay and Amazon are two of the leading online shopping sites yet I believe Amazon still has the competitive advantages.
1. Amazon almost guarantees customer satisfaction. Unlike ebay, items are shipped immediately, tracking is made possible, and you can always cancel a purchase if you change your mind. Furthermore, although many times ebay's auction feature can bring great deals (I recently bought a $80 shirt for $13), w/ Amazon prices are compared and fixed. They also organize the products in order of quality: New -> Acceptable. Sellers are also given ratings based upon their past sells and unlike ebay, the shipping is fixed and determined by post office standards rather than at the seller's will.
2. The wishlist feature is a perfect way to keep track of items you want and the perfect tool during the Christmas season. I ask all my younger cousins to send me theirs and from the vast array of items, I am able to buy gifts that they want while keeping the surprise element. Ebay does feature a "watching" section which allows interested buyers to keep track of the desired item without bidding. However the problem with the watching feature is that items are limited and once the item is sold, it is no longer available. Amazon on the other hand is always stocked and because of their direct connection to the actual businesses themselves (ie. Borders & Toys-R-Us)
3. One of the greatest features of Amazon is probably their personalized recommendation section. Based upon items you've previously bought, shown interest in, your wishlist, and what other users who purchased the same items also bought. Everytime I get onto Amazon I'm amazed at how personal the recommendation section is and they even have option where you can remove the items on which your recommendation is based off of (ie. textbooks).
4. Finally, under each product is a review from buyers of their satisfaction with the product along with a "Better Together" feature. Purchase of the item along with another Amazon recommends, results in a discount price. And the recommended item is usually something which coincides well, not some item amazon has troubles selling.
Ebay seems to attract consumers with their cheap prices, high profit rates, and the availability of hard-to-find products. Amazon is reasonably priced but their attraction seems to be in the customer service and reliability area. Although it would be nice to have a site which combined all these features, it would be hard to build up the reputation and trust which both sites have provided their users and to surpass them as well.
The Little Things in Life
The blog site motto "The Keyboard is Mightier than the Sword" is awfully cheesy. Prof Yoo, if possible, please use your influence at PBL to change it :]
Anyways... my blog today was inspired by a trip to the public bathrooms on campus. I am a true appreciator of the disposable toilet seat covers and was shocked to see how full the dispenser was. I mean seriously. Why is such a hygenically wonderful tool not being taken advantage of? It got me to thinking about other little inventions that are out there, revolutionized my life, and yet are so simple and unnoticed. Among a number of things I thought about loofahs, pore strips, carpet, and then it hit me -- the mechanical pencil.
I don't know about other people but I live by mechanical pencils. I refuse to use the regular, crappy #2 graphites and hate ballpoints. I just have to have my mechanical pencil. This is a PERFECT example of ubiquitous technology. Think about it. They have revolutionized my life and yet, are so grossly underappreciated.
Reasons why mechanical pencils rock:
1. They always have a sharp point (instead of eventually wearing down)
2. They write smoother
3. Their erasers even erase more effectively
4. You don't need to go out of your way to get up & sharpen
5. They save money (b/c they last forever)
6. The old pencils required too much work
--> remember the sharpeners attached to the walls in elementary school? you had to churn the wheel forever, it didn't work on short pencils & the point was always crooked on one side... they were also incredibly noisy (as was the electic sharpener which ate the pencil)
The technology may not be complex but who said it had to be? Just as the mechanical pencil disappears into daily life, the same should occur for other great technologies in the future. We actually gain more power and control from the mechanical pencil b/c it doesn't bother us and b/c we aren't controlled by the frustrations of the regular #2's any longer. Innovators need to take inspiration from them and design in a fashion that will help us, not hinder us. That will ease frustrations without intimidating us through the use of a more efficient, cheap alternative.
Online Communities
Xanga, facebook, and myspace are all blogging/web-based community sites familiar to most teenagers. Why am I also swept up by the internet communities and what do I gain and lose compared to relationships built outside the internet?
Reasons I Use Internet Communities:
1. Convienient
2. Easy way to keep in touch
3. No need to go through the formalities
4. Avoids the awkwardness of being called by someone not very high on my priority list for keeping in touch
5. Fast
However I quickly realized online communities work for me only when I know some of the members from outside experiences and especially when it is with people I met through retreats. On the complete opposite spectrum however, it is a simple way to almost brush off those annoying people who stalkernet you. I can always say "brb" or completely ignore them whereas the same is not possible when you have a face-to-face encounter full of awkwardness and a sense of urgency to get out of the situation.
I am personally an active user of both xanga AND facebook. Facebook in many ways has saved friendships otherwise lost and rekindled many friendships. Because I have moved nearly every 3 years of my life, I have always made close friends only to say goodbye to them again. My best friend from when I was 4 recently contacted me and we agreed to meet up this coming winterbreak. After all those years apart, a phonecall may have been awkward. However facebook allowed her to simply ask "Are you Andrea from Drew?" without going through the long process of familiarizing ourselves again. Also, we would have never found each other otherwise or seen what the other looked like after 15 years.
It's interesting how both websites offer online interest groups themed by everything from hobbies to strange mannerisms. Do these have any special meanings to me?
My Xanga Groups:
1. Music is my boyfriend <3 (expresses my obsession)
2. SFC East (a truly intimate and meaningful group of Students For Christ retreat attendees from all over the East Coast who constantly watch out, pray for, and keep in touch with each other)
3. My handbag is worth more than your life <3 (shallow materialist snobs who appreciate ridiculously)
4. I grew up in upper middle class white surbubia (expressing how i dont approve of asian cliches)
5. Ohio Koreans (so people can find me)
My Facebook Groups:
1. Chipotle Appreciation Society
2. Alpha Phi
3. Sushi Eaters anonymous
4. Missing the East Coast
5. Sex and the City -it's an Obsession!
6. David Palmer for Pres
7. I drink Soda... not Pop!
8. Case can be enjoyable if you stop bitching about it and find stuff to do
9. Girls who refuse to lower their standards for Case guys
10. Why is Jamba Juice not in Ohio?!
11. Bush Won, Stop Bitching, and Get over it! and Yes, He is your pres
12. Flip Flops are Hot
13. Moco MD pride
14. I'm probably napping right now
15. Wootang Clan
16. I've Seen Bob's Penis (willing or Not)
17. Kim Sullivan for Queen!!!!
18. Boston for Homecoming Queen
(all of the above are essentially meaningless in terms of "communities" except for the Alpha Phi group is a online representation of an actual community outside the internet world)
Nearly all of you belong to groups on facebook as well and most of you probably fellow members of many of the groups I belong to... but does this change your perception of me, make us closer in any aspect, or even make any impact at all?
Old or the new?
My best friend thinks ebay is the greatest invention ever. In fact, when reading Leonardo's Laptop on the future of businesses, all the major points brought up in the book were already put in practice by ebay. Ebay is currently one of the largest websites online. It's really quite ingenious. You can find great bargains (I bought a brand-new with tags BCBG dress once), shop for companies that aren't in the local area, and best of all make money off some old clothes you otherwise were going to donate to the Salvation Army. It's a large yard sale you never need to leave your computer for. It is also another form of ubiquitous technology which is seemingly perfect and most of all efficient.
Ebay comes with a system which gives you stars after every purchase and sell. Your “business partners” leave you feedback based on their experience with you and if you are questioning the integrity of someone, you can simply look up their feedback score and see what percentage of positive feedback they have and what others have said about them. People pay first, and then receive their item in roughly 2-3 weeks. Perfect right?
Unfortunately, as some mentioned in class, e-commerce takes away the personal relationship that exists with face-to-face contact. Because your perception of the item is based on the seller’s description and picture provided, what you think you’re buying could be misconstrued into something else. Additionally, many users steal their pictures so that the picture you see is not the actual item in their possession but the “perfect” commercial picture taken by million dollar companies. Another major fault is that because you can’t actually see the items up close, many times they are frauds. Furthermore, some users have found a way to conceal their feedback which takes away from the foundation of integrity.
I still purchase from ebay even with all the faults at hand. It should serve as an example of future technology. Most people either take an extreme position when envisioning future technology. Some believe that technology will provide great opportunity in increasing the efficiency of our lives and of also ameliorating all the small problems we run into everyday. Others are bitter and maybe even scared. They envision an A.I world overcome with robots and where their sense of control is lost and overrun.
Ebay can prove an example that technology IS a great benefit. It can be quick, efficient, help save money, and save time. Yet we must also realize that as some problems are relieved, other problems also arise. Cellphones are another great example of this. They have saved many lives with quick 911 calls and post-car accidents. They save time and help us to multi-task our hectic lives. Yet they have also been an increasing cause of car-accidents and frequently interrupt at inappropriate times (ie. School, church, work).
So then which is better? The old life or the new? Why are we so eager to move ahead when the problems being answered are only overcome by an equal set of more problems?
Technology has made HUGE advancements within the past few decades. Not only in technological advances but in gaining strides toward the ubiquitous future that we constantly discuss in class. How? By appealing to complete technology duds such as myself. I don't know anything about technology, I am horrible with gadgets, and don't know what to do if anything were to break. When I buy a new gadget, honestly, my aim is not to buy the most advanced model out in the market. Rather, I look for the most aesthetically pleasing one. And luckily, the “prettiest” things happen to also be the most advanced as well so I never suffer too much. But when did technology start transitioning from being efficient tools to personalized toys?
Everything we buy today is geared towards aesthetics. Cell phones were once black boxes which were cool only because it was mobile. But nowadays, instead of simply keeping the free phone they give you when signing up for a service, everyone opts to pay a couple hundreds for what? Better customer service? Greater coverage? No. They pay up for an embedded camera, for catchy ring tones, for ultimately, a sleeker phone. The same deal goes for iPODs. From what I remember there were tons of mp3 players around before the iPOD came out. But why is the iPOD the dominating and almost singular player owned by so many people?? Because Apple understood that most of America is not technologically savvy, that most of us wouldn’t appreciate the scientific process behind the machines. They have made a huge empire off of a single product which now includes skins, armbands, earphones, wireless remotes, FM transmitters, voice recorders, etc. Not surprisingly, other businesses have also caught onto the lucrative prospects of beautification.
Color-Ware Inc. is a company which specializes in the personalization of electronics to make them more appeasing to the eye. According to Playlist magazine which recently featured the company in their summer 2005 issue:
Wish Apple offered its larger iPods in colors, as it does the iPod mini? ColorWare's got you-and you iPod-covered. ColorWare sells fourth-generation iPods and iPod photos painted in your choice of 20 colors, from steel to carbon and every vivid hue inbetween-it evens offers colorized docks and headphones. ColorWare iPods cost $65 more than their white counterparts. If you’ve already got a first-, second-, or third-generation iPod, the company will colorize it for $49 (4G or photo model, $64)-and you can choose any custom color for $99 more. ColorWare will even color-match your current dock or iTrip FM transmitter for $19 and you earbuds for $10 (www.colorwarepc.com).
Because as the CEO, Justin Cisewski, rightly said, “Computers used to be all about utility. Now they're fashion statements”.