Publishing your book

Can you imagine publishing your own novel for twenty dollars? Thanks to technology this is now possible. Many people have dreamed of publishing their own novels but never had the resources to do so. Now with the startup company Blurb your dreams can become a reality. You can now create a book with pictures and even sell it. All you have to do is pick out the formatting you would like and decide which pictures and how much text you want on each page. This is quite a laborious activity but once you are done it is quite exhiliarating. Once you have finished decided what you would like on each page you click the submit button and in a few weeks you will receive your book in the mail. You also have the option to sell your book online and you pick the price you would like to charge. This amazing service will completely change the whole publishing industry.

Now those authors who could only dream of having their books published can actually do so. This will completely change the competitive forces for the publishing industry. It will be very interesting to see what lies ahead.

Database Becomes User Friendly

It has been difficult in the past to use databases because in order for them to be user friendly programming skills are required, which most people do not have. Therefore, databases have not been used to their full potential until now. FileMaker, a part of Apple, Inc., developed the Bento to help overcome this problem. It enables users to manage small projects. Rather than having to use excel to tackle projects, Bento is now available. It is more suited for tackling projects than Microsoft Excel or Word, which is what most people use. This database will prove extremely helpful when planning events or when tackling work projects. It allows users to organize information to make it much more efficient. For instance, if you are planning a party and you want each person to bring a particular food item to the party you can use the Address Book library to select the people who will be coming. From there you can develop a collection that identifies which person is responsible for each item. This is done through iCal Tasks. Once you have done this you can choose different formats to display your collection. The different formats are a table, form view, or spreadsheet style. In addition, you can also add additional information from external sources and combine it with the collection you have created. This very useful database is only fifty dollars.

I believe this will be extremely beneficial to many people. This will help organize work for projects and tasks that managers must assign to employee. It is also useful for personal things like party planning. This database will be accepted by not just those in the workforce but those who want to use it for their personal life. I think this will completely change things and make organizing work more efficient.

Yahoo's integrated phone service

Yahoo has stated that it will be coming out with a new integrated phone service called oneConnect. This amazing service will enable integration among instant messaging, social networks (like facebook), and email. This technology will change many aspects of how we live our lives. We will instantly be able to check friends status' on facebook. Instead of having to be at your personal computer to instant message or check status' you will be able to do this walking down the street.

In some ways I wonder how good this will be for our society. Will our society become too dependent on always having to check status' on facebook whenever we want? What will be next? Will it turn into a viscous cycle in which we are constantly checking on updates? I have to wonder how good it is for us to always be available. I remember a time when we did not have cell phones. It was not necessary to be able to get in touch with someone in an instant. Now, people expect to reach someone whenever they need them. It used to be people would go out to dinner with friends and talk to each other. Now, you see friends eating dinner and everyone is on their cell phone. So, how good is this? Today, virtually everyone can be reached whether they are vacationing, shopping, or eating dinner.

Technology will continue to shape our society. We must learn to use it to its full potential but we also must make sure it is changing our lives for the better.

Strategy and the Internet

Today it is better for companies to wait and make sound decisions about how IT should impact its competitive structure. Many companies have rushed to implement IT to stay ahead of others and have found themselves in a trap: They must constantly continue to update their systems. Companies that do not use IT as a strategic advantage will find themselves only competing on price which will utimately prove devastating to them. As seen with the Internet, buyers possess high bargaining power when comparing companies over the Internet. In addition, switching costs are low which allows buyers to find the product that offers the best price assuming all products are similar in quality, performance, service, etc. However, a way in which companies can really help increase switching costs for buyers is by ensuring that they have a strategic initiative when it comes to IT. Rather than rushing to implement IT into their industry they should make sure that they get the right fit for the company. This will prove invaluable. If companies do not carefully consider how IT will affect their industry they will untimately end up with IT being used as a commodity rather than as a competitive advantage. This could have disastrous results for companies including going under.