Week 4 EOC: My New App

Receipts.

Some people keep them in their wallets
Some people keep them in shoeboxes
Most people are frustrated with keeping them organized.It gets worse when you are looking for this one particular receipt as you go through piles of paper receipts. My idea for a new app would eliminate this problem.These paper receipts are messy, they are a hassle to deal with and they make it difficult to keep track of your expenses. Well Pocketreceipt solves your problems. From now on, you can opt to have the store send your receipt to your Pocketreceipts app, which keeps all your electronic receipts organized. You can search by date, by store, by amount or any other information for easy retrieval whenever you need a particular receipt. It is easy and amazingly convenient. I think it would be a total winner if it also gave you a summary of your expenses which makes it so much easier to monitor your total spending, regardless of whether you pay in cash or which debit/credit card you use.

Some people like me throw them in our bag to be lost forever. 

Week 3 EOC: Making Money For Good

Think about those brands that you purchase from over and over, even when there are cheaper options out there. Do you usually fly on a particular airline? Do you buy your coffee from the same place every morning? Do you recommend a specific restaurant whenever out-of-towners ask for suggestions? Often, the reason we stay loyal to brands is because of their set of values. The best brands strive to combine physical, emotional, and logical elements into one exceptional.  Barnabas Clothing is inspired by the work the Living Room International organization continues to do in Kenya.  According to their website, “The Living Room International is a non-profit organization based in Western Kenya that provides comprehensive care to those men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS or other life threatening illnesses. Their vision is to be a community that honors life and offers hope and they do so by becoming family to those that are dying.” (Barnabas) The organization has a 26 bed inpatient hospice facility that allows them to provide compassionate medical, emotional and spiritual support for the patient in their final days of life. “The environment and atmosphere is that of a home - everyone is welcome, everyone is loved, and everyone belongs.” (Barnabas)  No one is left to face their pain or fears alone. Outside of the facility, the staff also makes home visits, bringing critical care and compassion to house-bound patients. In addition to hospice care, the Living Room is a training institute on HIV/AIDS prevention and in collaboration with other organizations provides education and resources to the surrounding community. Barnabas Clothing donates a portion of ALL sales to Living Room International. I have to note that it is quiet incredible and inspiring researching and finding multiple clothing brands whose sole purpose of existence is to give back. 

Week 3 EOC: My Demograpchic

Authors William Strauss and Neil Howe believe that, "Each generation has common characteristics that give it a specific character, with four basic generational archetype. According to their theory, they predicted Millennials will become more like the "civic-minded" G.I. Generation with a strong sense of community both local and global."(Strauss 237) I hate to say it but I guess I am a millennial through and through.  For some reason saying that comes with a negative connotation in older generations.  I like to chalk it up as we have yet to prove ourselves but expect the world in return. In their 2007 book, authors Junco and Mastrodicasa expanded on the work of William Strauss and Neil Howe to include research-based information about the personality profiles of Millennials, especially as it relates to higher education. They conducted a large-sample (7,705) research study of college students. They found that Next Generation college students, born between 1983–1992, were frequently in touch with their parents and they used technology at higher rates than people from other generations. (Strauss 239) I really agree with this statement, I feel like my generation is known for having our heads buried in some device whether it be a phone, tablet or laptop.  Millennials were the first to grow up with computers in their homes. In a 1999 speech at the New York Institute of Technology, Microsoft Chairman and CEO Bill Gates encouraged America's teachers to use technology to serve the needs of the first generation of kids to grow up with the Internet. There is always some new technology coming out to add to the list of things my generation will flock to buy (example: Apple Watch or Kindle).   We would be lost without facebook to tell what happened in our day or Instagram to post that pic of our epic brunch to.  We rely on social media and technology day in and day out. 

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group- Video Games

The Video Game world has only been around for 60 so odd years, but considering how far technology has come since then however seems like quantum leaps from where we started.  Video games have had a very interesting history and its uses are and can be applied to almost any profession by means of a tutorial training or just simulated scenarios. The opportunities of use are endless, which has led to some winners in the video game world and some serious duds. A great example of a new found winner is PokemonGo the genius creators at Niantic got the idea to create the mobile app game off an April fools joke google had played where people could go online and search the virtual world for Pokemon.  This sparked input Pokemon Go we now have this very same game on our mobile phones and it has taken the world by storm! What has been interesting to me the most about this game is what it is doing to the marketing and advertising world.  Particularly how it is changing it, for once the public is not only being accepting of the marketing they are literally flocking to places that hold Poke themed events and that offer patrons special offers for being a high leveled player.  Consumers are actually showing up to places face to face, they aren’t just simply searching them on the web and clicking, no they are going in spending time in the establishments and spending money into the economy. Brian Smith for Search Engine Magazine stated, " At this moment, it’s hard to imagine a world in which augmented reality takes off beyond the realm of video games. But once augmented reality becomes truly ubiquitous, brands will figure out how to start making virtual billboards. And then all bets are off."  Not once has any video game ever  been as successful as this game has been at getting other business involved into the game.  It is setting a new precedent and I think this is just the first of many games creating similar mobile app. What is ironic and also kind of impressive is the lack of marketing and advertising the comapny did for the game pre-launch, "Niantic, has done very little to promote the game since it launched. Beyond a handful of release notifications from the official Pokémon Go Twitter account, no TV commercials have been commissioned and in-app advertising is minimal."