Mac vs. PC: What You Don't Get for $699

In the article, "Mac vs. PC: What You Don't Get for $699", Arik Hesseldahl argues while a PC may seem to be a great deal just with the price alone, consumers should really consider just how little they are getting compared to a more expensive Mac.

Apple may have had the upper hand in advertising for some time by downgrading the quality of PCs to Macs, Microsoft has come back strong finding the right voice to draw people's attention toward PCs again. Microsoft's main point weapon of choice in competing with a Mac is price. Since the country is in a recession, most people will be happy to pay $699 as opposed to $2,800 for a laptop. I know I would. But Apple still argues that while their prices may be higher, it's for good reason. The first thing Apple points out is that a PC comes with a 60-day trial of Norton Internet Security 2009 but then once the trial runs out, the customer would be shelling out $50 a year to keep their computer safe. A Mac has no need for any antivirus software. Now while I do not know the inter workings of a Mac having never purchased one myself, but having no kind of protection on a computer seems rather risky. I'd rather still pay the cheaper price and then add on the extra cost of safety. Apple also has a free diagnostic check on any computer in their retail stores as opposed to the $129 fee that the Geek Squad at Best Buy would charge. However, while their diagnostics fee may be free, what the article doesn't mention is what their fees are to actually fix the computer. That could be completely outrageous. Still, I would rather stick with a PC as I don't ever go to the Geek Squad anyways. I just simply use my own computer repair man who is by far cheaper and does just as good as work as the Geek Squad would I'm sure. So far, Apple hasn't done a good job at persuading me to change to their product.

When it comes to speaking about what comes on the computer, Apple yet again tries to sound triumphant over a PC. Apple computers come with iLife which is a suite of multimedia tools where a user can organize photos and home movies and turn them into watchable DVDs, create their own music and also aid in Web site creation. Apple also argues that if a PC were to give the same sort of amenities, the customer could very easily spend over $500 just to have the same programs. When I'm shopping for a new laptop or computer, I have these main criteria in mind: be able to do Microsoft office, play music, watch DVDs, download and organize my photos and be on the Internet. All the fancy extra gizmos that an Apple offers are not necessary for me to use my computer at all so therefore I do not need to be spending that sort of money on something that will in a sense be wasted. Other key features that Apple says make it a better product over PCs are: battery life is much longer, they are lighter weight and the screen resolution is substantially better than on a PC. Hesseldahl states that while some people may not care about pixels and multimedia software, a PC still doesn't measure up when it comes to overall satisfaction. I believe that to be a totally biased sentiment. While I don't necessarily care about pixels, I do care about having the features I discussed above in my computer and I care about not having the extra gizmos that are going to cost me a lot more money I'll never use. So therefore, by having my minimum requirements, my customer satisfaction will be at a high level.

Apple spokesman Bill Evans says, "A PC is no bargain when it doesn't do what you want." In my opinion, people who willing choose to purchase an Apple are doing it for two reasons: one because they do like the features it offers but two because it perceives them in a light that they may be interested in the finer things in life and they want other people to think that simply because most people know the price for an Apple is significantly higher than a regular PC. Apple's main argument is always going to be about quality and how it is much higher than that of a PC to justify their higher prices. Their advice to Microsoft: the Windows guys ought to take the hint and just build better computers.

Between my fiance and I, we are divided. He is a lover of Macs and I'm a lover of PCs. Going back on all the features like the different multimedia tools making the higher price so well worth it, I think of how my fiance uses his laptop. He doesn't do anything fancy like create his own music or put his photos onto a DVD or even photoshop his photos. He wants the same features that I do out of a computer. But yet he insists on getting a more expensive Mac still. And not only that, his Mac laptop started to puke in the same time frame as my PC. So he would be doing the same things as me on a computer and for the same amount of time but yet spending a significantly higher amount of money. It is very possible to find a PC that will satisfy its customers while keeping some pennies still in their pockets. Apple could throw all the greatest features at me comparing it to a PC, and quite frankly, there is nothing it can do to change my mind.

Fed & Treasury Pitch Pay Rules, But Will They Work?

In the article, "Fed & Treasury Pitch Pay Rules, But Will They Work?", Theo Francis discusses how the Federal Reserve and Treasury will be compensate the pay structure for some companies. The companies who had gotten extraordinary taxpayer aid are the companies being scrutinized for this compensation. The Fed's guidelines count on the agency to succeed where it failed before while the Treasury's dictates fall back on some of the old assumptions about pay and performance that lay behind pre-crisis compensation practices. The Fed's new rules consist of telling bank holding companies just how the agency intends to assess their pay practices to ensure the idea that bonuses and other incentives don't encourage bankers to take outsize risk and then putting the banks in jeopardy. While it was always their responsibility, they really mean it this time around. The Treasury's rules are firmly anchored in the top echelons of the corporate org chart. Kenneth Feinberg has the massive task of enforcing these compensation rules no matter what. His mandate was to police pay only for the top five executives and 20 highest paid other employees at each firm. His ideas lead to swapping chunks of cash for stock. No matter what plans either come up with, the main focus should always be to make sure people are focusing on what they're responsible for individually as opposed to just the firm as a whole.

The Economy: Beware the Bottlenecks

In the article "The Economy: Beware the Bottlenecks", Peter Coy talks about how the U.S. economy's isolated shortages early in the recovery could lead to inflation. Typically, when a country is in a recession, most items are on sale so inflation isn't yet a problem since sellers are eager to dump their excess supplies. However, it is worrisome since there are some scattered shortages in a variety of items. If more are on the rise, it could drive prices up and force the Federal Reserve to raise rates before the recovery ever hits its stride. Whatever happens, James B. Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis says, "I don't want to replay the '70s." Luckily, many experts view these shortages mainly as short-term problems that won't harm the overall economy. Meanwhile, the Fed would have an easier time just trying to focus on a different enemy, deflation. No matter what, the central bank must be prepared to fight a war on two different fronts.

Industrial Stocks: A Smokestack Comeback?

In the article "Industrial Stocks: A Smokestack Comeback?", Ben Steverman discusses what the expected outcome of the U.S. economy will be in the future. Thankfully, the U.S. manufacturing has stopped its dramatic decline which can clearly be seen in economic data, recent corporate earnings reports and stock prices. While the stock market data is clear, there are other data that is unclear such as comparing the U.S. Empire State index which increased while the U.S. Philadelphia Fed index slipped during the same time period. What may give investors a better sense of what's really going on is through earnings reports. They will be looking at how strongly different companies are recovering from the recession and if it will continue. However, there are a few reasons to be optimistic. Manufacturing is jumping off a very low base. Companies have also been liquidating their inventories at a rapid rate and eventually those inventories are going to have to get replenished which will result in a significant contribution to the GDP growth over the next few quarters. Another is that energy prices are being driven higher not by weather or inventory problems but by the perception of a very strong global rebound. No matter how people predict the U.S. economy will come out, it is vital that industrial firms do well because so many other parts of the U.S. economy remain depressed. We as an economy need to make sure we can dive up manufacturing and retail otherwise this country will remain on the edge of recession.

How Tech for the Disabled Is Going Mainstream

In the article "How Tech for the Disabled Is Going Mainstream", Reena Jana examines how designs that were meant for the handicapped often lead to products for the masses.

Apple is a particular company that is widely celebrated for making devices that are easy to use and are elegantly designed. But what most people don't know is that a lot of the features that we look at as innovative and new, aren't really new at all. Many features had been created years before the hit the market for the masses but the target audience were disabled people. Many of us are so used to having some form of voice activating feature on our cell phones but most don't realize is that feature was originally created for blind people. The idea of "mainstreaming" tools for the disabled is spreading. There are a wide variety of tools that were intentionally created for disabled people that are now a convenience for the masses. Things like voice command technology on a computer for people who can't type, to a newer product of the Kindle e-reader, to voice activation in cars. And for those where voice activation won't work, Mattel is even creating a game for paraplegics that is controlled by players brainwaves.

Mainstreaming has a long history dating all the way back to Thomas Edison who created the phonograph so blind people could hear book recordings. Something nowadays that is innovative and technological that people probably use everyday without even realizing it is predictive text software that finish people's words in a text, email or search engine. One of Apple's latest products that involves this advanced technology to fit the needs of the disabled and the wants of the masses is the newest iPod shuffle. While it is too small for a video screen to display the song information, it has software it it that can say out loud what song is playing. This could be an added bonus for customers of the masses and a staple for blind people who want to listen to music and decide before it starts playing whether they want to listen to that song or not. Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president for iPod and iPhone marketing states, "Some customers need assistive technologies, and other people want convenience. We try to solve prblems for the disabled community, then we drive the solutions into the mainstream, to let everyone take advantage of them."

While the latest trend in innovative technology was a demand for devices that could speak and be spoken to, there is soon to be an even bigger demand for mind control technology that will allow the user to do something hands-free. Not only would this be a tremendous milestone for people that are paralyzed, but the masses are going to love this care-free way of doing something thus putting in the convenience factor again. Since Mattel has a game coming out soon that involves mind controls, they can bet that many other people will want to get their hands on this technology and it will become the basis for a line of mind-controlled physical games which would open up a whole new category for just the toy industry alone. Tim Bajarin, president of technology consultancy Creative Strategies says, "It's smart, because there is an aging population that will need easier-to-use tech. It's even smarter to follow Apple;s lead and then call these features out and get people's attention. Then it becomes a competitive advantage."

While my major is in elementary education, I am going to have a variety of students in my classroom of all different learning levels and with all kinds of disabilities that I have to be prepared for. I'm going to have to plan my lessons and the overall setup of my classroom to accommodate everyone to make sure they have an equal chance at getting an education. In my science methods course, our professor was just teaching us about this very concept. They were calling it UDL, universal design for learning. Using this concept in technology is going to be very helpful for many people when used properly just as UDL in the classroom would be too.

Washington Revives the Mortgage Cramdown

In the article "Washington Revives the Mortgage Cramdown", Theo Francis discusses the possible solutions that the Democrats are proposing to the surging foreclosure problem in the United States. On many people's wish list, there is a hope for a renewed push to allow so-called cramdown, which would let bankruptcy judges adjust the terms of home loans to give borrowers relief. Cramdown is the idea of cramming deals down lenders' throats which the banking industry hates. One bill introduced by Senator Jack Reed would force lenders to pause before they foreclose and to offer borrowers a break on their mortgage bill if they qualify for help under the Treasury program. The bill would also give the e states $6.4 billion do to help homeowners stay put. Overall, the main goal is to help the people of the United States to fight for what they should still have despite how the economy is going. Many people could easily argue with this logic, except the mortgage companies. Other improvement ideas include: considering the temporary suspension of home-loan payments or brief monthly mortgage subsidies for unemployed homeowners and supporting the broader housing market by extending a homebuyer's tax credit. Many lawmakers are calling for support for cramdown. Supporters say cramdown would free homeowners from debt they can't afford while prodding lenders to cut deals before reaching the courthouse. Detractors argue cramdown would spook the mortgage market, thus driving up borrowing cost and making loans harder to get which would be a nightmare for lenders. While many lenders are still not jumping onto this new helpful bandwagon to his customers, Senator Richard J. Durbin is the crusader for homeowners who may face foreclosure. He is willing to attach a cramdown provision to any convenient bill if it won't get a hearing on its own. He states, "The proposal will always be part of the conversation, if for nothing else than to scare the daylights out of everyone." So mortgage companies and banks better watch their backs.

Gary Vaynerchuk's Startup Advice

In the article "Gary Vaynerchuk's Startup Advice", John Tozzi describes how Gary Vaynerchuk is successful in his business through passion and what this sort of approach can do to any market. Many people in the business world are torn with doing what they love and doing a job just so they can face the realities of the world and market. Sometimes people luck out and their interests align with the perfect job. Gary Vaynerchuk's book, "Crush It!", describes how to combine passion, hard work and technology to create a successful niche business. He acts upon this teachings through his own example by building an empire with his obsession with wine, the Internet and business. Vaynerchuk's theory is to pick a specialty you love, build your reputation as an expert, pump out content online and eventually make money by selling advertising, niche products or services. If this pattern is followed, then you are set up for a great success. J. Robert Baum, a professor at the University of Maryland, also provides some evidence that passion in business makes entrepreneurs perform better. The results from a six-year study sampled companies in the architectural woodworking industry and found that passion and "self-efficacy" were the biggest predictors of growth. And those that had both, were the most likely to succeed. Another perfect example is single mother Paula Davis. She used to be a legal assistant but hated working there. She got divorced and since then she has been making soap by hand as a hobby. This hobby turned into a business in 2004, the Canyon Creek Soap Company. It is a modest business that she enjoys doing along with the fact that she gets to spend time with her children instead of sticking them in day care. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that people who work for themselves are generally happier. Vaynerchuk asks people to rethink their priorities in both business and life. One of his philosophies to live by is, "People are chasing cash, not happiness. When you chase money, you're going to lose. You're just going to. Even if you get the money, you're not going to be happy."

How to Nurture Future Leaders

In the article "How to Nurture Future Leaders", Venessa Wong illuminates how the business world is thinking more creatively by incorporating design thinking into typical business practices.

Nowadays, it's scary to be a new graduate out of master's programs but while some may feel challenged entering the market, others are more optimistic about it. A lot of school programs are now integrating design, technology and business together coining the new trendy term "design thinking". While it may sound like just a new trendy term, it is actually a technique that designers and executives hope will provide a solution to some of the world's serious challenges. The only problem with it is people are not reaching a consensus on how to teach it. They can't figure out if the design schools should create more business-focused programs or if business schools should foster more creative thinking. Despite different approaches, the programs have a similar aim: to merge design, business and technology together. While I am not a business major, something of this nature could be useful to me later on in life. If I ever got tired of teaching the elementary levels, I could go to school for business and have an advantage of being "creative". Students who considered to be the best students are ones that are competent in both creative confidence and analytic ability.

Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, argues that, "Every corporation needs a design-thinking type." This would include industries that people wouldn't normally think of such as banks and law firms. A number of corporations have begun to integrate design thinking across areas of operations. Even more companies that you wouldn't think of that some people would dream of working for. While Procter & Gamble, Samsung and Steelcase sound like they would be logical choices, Harley-Davidson has even hired graduates who were gradually promoted to all levels of management such as product development, marketing, finance and global manufacturing strategy. Not exactly a company people would think of when thinking of the business world off the tops of their heads. This then shows that all varieties of companies are adapting this approach and will ultimately be making a very strong, stable and productive company.

However, there are some corporations that haven't jumped on the "design thinking" bandwagon yet. They skeptical about its theories of how it actually fits into the business world. They also don't know what it is in general or how to apply it to their business. Some people that have been in the business world for a very long time see it as a dilution of an industry and discipline they worked so hard to study for. Others argue that the new graduates from the "design thinking" areas lack grounding so companies may just hire designers and then train them in business skills as necessary. While this is only a small stepping stone into the idea of "design thinking", there are hopes that this technique will provide new insight and enhance innovation in a time that desperately needs both. Later on down the road, if this technique proves to be an effective measure, then these graduates might just redefine the way the world does business.

While I do like this new approach to business, I have to worry about the people that have been at their jobs for many years whether they'll just simply get pushed out by these new graduates simply because they have different training. My father has been at his company for over 25 years. While my dad went to college and earned his degree, he's not going to adapt to this style of business well and I worry something will happen to his job before he is able to retire. I think that there can be advantages and disadvantages to this new area of thinking. We'll just have to wait and see where it takes us.

The Coming Energy Revolution

In the article "The Coming Energy Revolution", author Rachael King discusses the new smart-grid technology advantages that will bring huge savings to companies and to consumers. Companies can easily spend millions of dollars a year on just electricity bills. But now companies are thinking of new ways that they can cut those bills dramatically by using this new smart-grid technology. The companies, along with the electric company, will work out an agreement so that the company can still run their business from their own generators saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars a day and the electric company won't have to worry to try to put out so much energy in one place in high peak times that could result in blackouts. There are many more advantages to the new smart-grid technology. Companies that are concerned with going green, can buy other types of energy that is renewable such as wind or solar energy. While they may pay a bit more in the long run, they will be able to meet their go-green targets. Eventually, many places will be installing new smart meters that will allow information to travel in two-way street where power and information flow in both directions between the utility and the customer. Customers can even negotiate with the electric companies to allow them to automatically turn down appliances during peak times with more than likely a discount in exchange for the lack of power to certain systems. This new smart-grid technology will bring many new benefits that if done right can cut bills, reduce consumption give users more say in the kinds of energy they use and even let customers produce their own energy and sell it back to the power providers. Overall, this new smart-grid technology may be expensive to produce but in the long run, it's going to save a lot of people a lot of money.

Typical U.S. Worker Saw 401(k) Lose 24.3% in 2008

In the article "Typical U.S. Worker Saw 401(k) Lose 24.3% in 2008, Lauren Young talks about what investors are doing with the money from their 401(k) that ends up bringing it is down so much in percentage. At the end of 2008, the average 401(k) balance was $86,513 whereas the year before that it was at a balance of $114,337. So what happened to make that decrease of over 20%? At the end of the year, the typical 401(k) investor had actually attributed 56% of their assets in equities via funds and company stock versus a 41% stake in fixed-income securities such as stable value, bond and money market funds. Not only that, but the mayhem surrounding the stock positions going down didn't help in any way. An alarming detail out of all of this is that while 72% of workers held 20% or less of their account balances in company stock, almost 7% had more than 80% of their account balance invested in company stock. That takes the chance of risk to a whole new level.

Publishers Try to Learn to Love the Web

In the article, "Publishers Try to Learn to Love the Web", Olga Kharif discusses the pressing issue for publishers to a variety of digital books. Many publishers would love to keep things just the way they are, however they are facing the challenge to love digital books so they can avoid the toll inflicted by the Internet on newspapers and the music business. There are so many areas publishers can get involved in using digital books. There are Kindles that allow people to buy digital versions to be put onto a hand-held device you can take anywhere and digital books they can buy to download to computers. Nowadays, newer methods are being considered such as a Net-flix style website to rent books online, buying individual chapters of a book and even libraries are buying books digitally that their patrons can check out for free. Some critics worry that some publishers have become too willing to accept too little money for their author's work. But with the way the world is ever changing, making the switch to digital may be just what helps them the most.

Hydrogen Cars Are Still Headed for the Highway

In the article, "Hydrogen Cars Are Still Headed for the Highway", Jack Ewing reports that hydrogen cars on the move more than the public realizes. Hydrogen cars were in talk before the idea of an electric car came about but unfortunately, hybrid and electric cars are the ones that ended up taking off into the market. While hydrogen cars were sort of pushed to the back burner for the time being, they are starting to reappear more and more. They are appearing more readily that plans to build 1,000 hydrogen filling stations in Germany have surfaced which will hopefully be completed by 2015. Many people still don't understand the concept of a hydrogen car, so therefore they aren't interested in harnessing the technology and using it to there benefit. And all the while, hydrogen cars would have a positive effect on the environment by emitting only steam into the air and also on traveling in general. A hydrogen car allows someone to travel for longer distances and they can also power big, roomy sedans much better than batteries can. Automakers are now looking into the "perfect" running car using a combination of hydrogen and batteries which would allow for the ultimate type of transportation.