Reading Summaries

Reading Summary 3: Virtual Reality

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Have you ever wanted to go anywhere in the world, but in the comfort of your living room? That’s right, virtual reality can do so. Virtual reality is a computer simulation of a 3D environment where one can interact with it like it were real. Virtual reality is still at its beginning phases. There is the Oculus Rift VR headset that allows a person to be “transported” in the virtual world. It’s capable of a 360 degree full view and motion sensor. Also, there’s Google cardboard that’s a viewer for mobile apps. My prediction for virtual reality in the future is that it will be more immersive in today’s society by changing our shopping experience, entertainment,  and how we behave.

The way we shop can be transformed by virtual reality. As for interior design, customers can use Decorilla to see a virtual simulation of a room redesign (Murphy). According to Three ways virtual reality will transform customer experience, customers can see how products will look on them using a try-on app. Glasses.com has an app that creates a 3D rendering version of a person’s face, and they can see how different glasses will look on them. The article also mentions a futuristic concept that customers may browse through a virtual representation of a store from their homes. Customers could browse through aisles, inspect products, make purchases, and talk with virtual store employees which could be bots or simulations of employees. I think that online shopping will include virtual reality components so we can see the products in 3D rather than still images, and perhaps a virtual store is possible in the future.

Some of the entertainment business of music and sports are starting to integrate virtual reality. An app called TheWave is considered to be a virtual concert. DJs can mix music in virtual reality, and listeners can jump to different virtual venues to find the DJ they like. As for sports, the Professional Golf Association is experimenting with virtual reality cameras so viewers can see a full view of the game. In this YouTube video, there is an option to move the camera around. Not only is this something new for sports, but I think it’s a new step for YouTube videos in general to incorporate VR cameras.

Virtual reality can change the way we behave towards others. CBS News’ article, How virtual reality can change how you act toward others describes virtual reality as an actual experience, not just a media experience. In virtual reality, someone can be another by changing their gender or race. This empathy can change how we act towards others. We can experience trauma first hand which can reduce prejudice. I believe that this virtual reality could be used for mental rehabilitation, or for psychological research. However, a problem that arises is that people may like their virtual reality self more than their actual self. It’s much more interactive, and it could be more addicting than video games.

In the future, I think virtual reality will be integrated more in our lives, ranging from shopping, entertainment, or mental rehabilitation. Although, I think that it’s not popular now. Virtual reality is mostly starting up from video games which is a small portion of the overall population. The singularity of virtual reality may happen slowly once more big companies join in from different aspects of life. Then someday it could be the norm that people use.

 

Reading Summary 2

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Recently, startup companies are competing in the market for being the “Uber for children.” Parents work full-time, and they need to find a way to get their children to school or back home during their busy schedules.

The article, “Ride-Hailing Start-Ups Compete in ‘Uber for Children’ Niche” by Eilene Zimmerman, discusses the different startup companies that have trusted drivers who will pick up children and bring them to their destination. Uber and Lyft don’t specify in picking up children or minors so there is an opening in the market. Niche markets for driving have been done before such as Lift Hero which provides rides to older customers. Children are the next newest trend. An example of this start-up is Zum. It provides babysitting and also rides for children ages 5 – 15. As of now it has funds of over $1 million and it provides 150 – 200 rides a day (Zimmerman). Another company is Kango which started as a carpool for parents and their children in neighborhoods. However, due to customer feedback, the company changed its model by providing non-shared rides and babysitting services.

On the other hand, “HopSkipDrive, The Uber For Kids, Picks Up $3.9 Million In Seed Funding” by Jordan Crook focuses on the success of the startup, HopSkipDrive. The company allows parents to set up scheduled pick up times for their children with trusted drivers. The children can identify their driver with a picture and a code word. Parents can track the ride in real-time using the app.

These articles relate to our class reading about start-up companies. According to “What is a Startup?“, “a startup is a company working to solve a problem where the solution is not obvious and success is not guaranteed” (Robehmed). In this case, these companies that are the Uber for children are startup companies. The problem was that parents had difficulties with finding ways to drive their children to where they need to go because they are busy themselves. Having a driving service just for kids could be the answer. For HopSkipDrive, parents can trust the drivers because of thorough background checks. With the other company, Kango, success wasn’t guaranteed. Their carpool idea didn’t satisfy all their customers. So with customer feedback, they changed their business model. Startups are basically the beta testing phase where feedback is needed in order to improve and become profitable in the future. These are companies that are just starting out. They branched out from Uber’s concept and focused on a more specific market. Their revenue is around $1 million, but once they grow, they will no longer be a startup.

I think that unicorn companies are the role models that startup companies aspire to be. In both current event articles, Uber, a unicorn company, was mentioned multiple times. Even describing these companies, one would say they are the “Uber for kids.” The Economist’s article, “The Rise and Fall of the Unicorns,” said that unicorn companies are startup tech companies that are valued at $1 billion. It also mentions that Uber is one of the successful unicorn companies that will not have any trouble raising new money. This is a reason why startup companies such as Zum, Kango, and HopSkipDrive have begun operation. They see that Uber is successful so they want to be similar to Uber but differentiate themselves. The flaws that Uber have are that they don’t pick up minors alone and that it doesn’t appeal to parents. However, the new startup companies can be the solution to those problems.

 

Dropbox Current Events & Reading Summary 1

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The article I read was Fancy an Anti-Piracy Threat…. To Your Dropbox Email Address? It was about that an anti-piracy company called BREIN sent emails to people involved with sharing eBooks privately through Dropbox. BREIN obtained a court order against a man who granted access to his copyrighted eBooks on internet forums. His fine was 50,000 euros. BREIN found out who was involved since the Dropbox account of the man had their emails. So BREIN sent emails to those Dropbox users, saying that “your email is visible to third parties” and that they were downloading copyrighted content from an illegal source. These scary emails worked because sharing emails through the forums almost stopped.

Some of Manovich’s 8 principles of new media can apply to Dropbox. Manovich’s fourth principle was that new media is old cultural conventions mixed with software. The old cultural convention was to physically see a document or picture by giving it to someone. However, with Dropbox, that document can easily be accessed anywhere. Furthermore, emailing files back and forth was the old, but Dropbox allows a group of people to share a space for files that can be updated automatically. Another principle is the fifth one which says, “it will ‘destroy the natural relationship between humans and the world'” (Manovich: 5). Dropbox does eliminate the distance because anyone with internet can go on Dropbox and see their files. It’s cloud storage so it’s accessible all the time. Collaboration of editing files with people from different locations is possible.

Dropbox does have some of O’Reilly’s Web 2.0 characteristics. It uses collective intelligence because businesses and companies can share files. So having more users is who it’s mostly catered to. Although, it is fine to use Dropbox for yourself without sharing. Dropbox can be used on more than one device such as desktop application, going to the website, or using the app on a mobile device. It’s user-friendly since it’s easy to use. On desktop a user just needs to put files in the folder and it’s in the cloud.

Rozenweig and Castells mention ideas that contribute to the historical development of Dropbox. Rozenweig explained how ARPANET managed to connect computers together. Dropbox users can connect together by their email addresses. Now sharing and connecting with one another is so convenient. Castells said that technology was not a random occurrence; we make better technology to fix problems of the time. Co-founder of Dropbox, Drew Houston, repeatedly forgot his USB when studying at MIT which inspired him to solve this problem. He developed a cloud storage so he could access his files from anywhere.

Dropbox was built using Python as its primary coding language. The problem when building Dropbox was that each platform required different programming tools so the same code had to be written multiple times. However, Python allowed the code to be written once so it could run everywhere. Additionally, the engineering team tested Dropbox on platforms such as Windows, Macintosh, iPhone, and Android.

Dropbox has characteristics of social media. The generated content are the files a user uploads. As seen from the article, anyone can participate by providing their email address. The service is free and it is always online. It is highly interactive since most people go on to upload or download the content.

I think that Dropbox exemplifies the “eversion”. For example, my friend asked me to share my PDFs with him. I tried to upload it through email as an attachment, but the files were too large. So I immediately went to Dropbox because I knew it could hold large files. Dropbox has become the place we go to so we can send our files to someone else. Also, I see that Dropbox is integrated into other apps such as “PDF Expert.” I can edit my PDFs using my Dropbox account. Maybe Dropbox is involved with more third parties so it is becoming more present in our lives.

Castells is in favor of technological determinism which is that technology controls us. I think that Dropbox has some control, but not to the point where we are dependent on it. It makes life more convenient by providing an easily accessible cloud storage, but that doesn’t completely replace traditional methods like using a USB. It only replaces email when a file is too large. There are also competitors such as Google drive or Onedrive. Businesses and companies can be dependent on it because it’s a centralized space for their files.