China’s Great (Fire) Wall

1.- Should foreign companies provide their technologies to China, knowing that the technologies are used to limit the individual freedom of Chinese citizens? Why or why not?

I think it depends on the company. Nowadays the competition is really high and many of these companies only care about the revenues that can make with providing their service to China. China has the largest population of internet users but they are restricted because of their government regulations. Companies always pursue revenues and take advantage of opportunities give by the Chinese government.

2.- Given that China has the largest number of Internet users, do you think they can ultimately succeed in controlling information? Why or why not?

It is complicated for that large amount of internet users having control of every single page they visit. Also as the book says there are people with the sufficient knowledge that modified proxy servers and they could make holes in the Chinese censorship. This censorship probably is not going to last longer because of the situation in which users can take actions to free themselves from this situation. Companies also should take actions in order to help this situation get better.

3.- Should the rest of the world care if China limits information access within China? Why or why not? Now that Google has moved against censorship, do you think other companies will follow suit? Why or why not?

I think companies providing the services should care more. Many people already think that the censorship needs to be taken down. It is like a dictatorship in which people are told what they should watch and what they are not allow to watch. They do not have the freedom of getting connected with the world. I also believe that many companies should follow the Google’s position against the censorship. Finally I think that if companies refuse to provide their services to China then the censorship could be taken down or a positive adjustment towards freedom could be reached.

The Emergence of Open Source Software

1.- What are the pros and cons of having so much open source software enabling the Internet?

Pros are :

-Freedom of modifying software in order to improve it.

-They do not have any cost.

-Anybody with the adequate knowledge can contribute to improve the open source systems and help to develop better services.

Cons are:

-There should be some limitations towards what software’s are open source.

– It could be used for other purposes rather than good ones.

2.- For what types of applications do you think open source is better than proprietary software? When is it worse?

As the reading says Google maps started charging and placing advertisements for the use of their software. Maps that are open sourced are a good example. Maps are needed and it could be improved by people in order to make them more accurate. I also think Linux develops open source software that in wrong hands can be a problem. An example is Kali Linux.

3.- Find a for-profit company that is distributing open source software. What is the software? How does the company make money? It is revenue model sustainable?

There are companies that are open source oriented but they charge some money in order to give you an upgraded service or tools. WordPress is a clear example of open source software that makes revenues. The way WordPress works is that they give the free open source system but if you want to upgrade your account you need to make a payment. Other examples working in similar ways are: MySQL that is a popular relational database, Magento an E-commerce shopping platform. Magento work with subscribers that want to make electronic commerce. This includes sales and purchases. There is also Zimbra an email and messaging server. Zimbra is an open source tool collaboration for email calendaring, tasks and more.

Next Generation Identification: FBI, ICE Databases Expand and Join Forces

1.- List a set of tangible and intangible benefits as well as tangible and intangible costs for the FBI database system.

Tangible benefits:

– It will help FBI system to develop more security within the country.

Intangible benefits:

– The accuracy towards detecting potential criminals will be higher. This means that a safer environment will be created for all citizens in the country.

Tangible costs:

-The costs for developing and maintaining this databases will be expensive.

Intangible costs:

-Accusations towards innocent people would be high also. A way this can shift to a positive thing would be actualizing the databases periodically.

2.- Develop a set of faith-,fear-, and fact-based arguments to support the continued and ongoing expansion of FBI database. Which arguments do you think are the strongest? Why?

Faith would include that the system work well and increase the national security and in consequence people would feel safer in the country. Many people feel unsafe with so many terrorists attacks and threats that terrorist groups make to United States. Is the job of FBI and their databases locate people that can be possible threats. As the reading says the systems can have some background information and could lead to identify them. A fear-based argument would be the judgement of innocent people. This can be worked more within the system because if they make constant actualization’s in their databases many of those innocent judgments could be reduced. A fact-based argument would be the actual reduction of people that can be significant threats for the country. If the systems really work the way is expected then it would be a success.

3.- Some privacy advocates argue that bio-metric systems can become unreliable and single out innocent people, especially over time as these databases become less accurate because of a person’s natural aging process, weight loss, weight gain, injury, or permanent disability. Discuss the problems associated with having these systems single out innocent people.

There are problems within the bio-metric systems but there work I think 99% of the time. Fingerprints are unique for every human being. Also I believe that other systems need to be implemented to get more accuracy in the tracking or judgement of people. Finally constant actualization’s of the databases would reduce the probability of judging an innocent person.

The Battle for the Dashboard

1. How can inter-organizational systems help companies like General Motors better manage supplier and customer relationships, especially as the automobile industry is transformed?

Interorganizational systems can help companies such as General Motors to manage supplier and customer relationships by including features inside cars that make them safer. As the reading says many of this apps can distract drivers causing them to have accidents. There is where manufacturers and developers need to analyze which apps and features they should include in order to create safer cars combined with latest applications.

2. Which capabilities of interorganizational systems will be most critical for manufacturing or selling the cars of the future?

Safety is going to be an important feature for all cars. Also the self-driving cars prototypes like the google one is going to change a lot the way how cars are going to be manufactured. Is going to be difficult change the way of how do cars work nowadays but in future is going to be a reality as many of the technology prototypes that were not possible 10 years ago but now are.

3. What capabilities would you like to see in the car of the future?

I think there needs to be useful features without distracting the driver. Safety is going always to be the primary feature that people will look for. Nowadays cars are being produced eco-friendly, this was an idea that came out because of the global warming process also there are other alternatives for fuel system. In the future I believe cars are going to be powered in its majority by electric power. Finally a capability that I would like to see is in future cars is the combination of newest fuel alimentation with performance. Performance is sometimes lowered in cars that are eco-friendly. Although there are cars that have already completed this feature these cars prices are exorbitant.

Software as a Service: ERP by the Hour

1.- Would you trust an external provider with your organization’s data? Why or Why not? What would be needed to raise your trust in the reliability, security, and privacy of the data?

It depends, I think the amount of data provided to an external provider needs to be limited. There are some limitations concerning the external providers like the security and the autonomy of the data management given to them. The advantages of using external providers are also important. The major benefit is the price, external providers are much cheaper than building an IS infrastructure. To trust in one company this needs to be a good reputation company because your data and information is being given.

2.- What are the potential drawbacks of using a relatively simple in-house database with limited capabilities versus a more robust, SaaS database solution? Do the benefits outweigh these limitations? Why or why not?

The in-house database is more expensive than the SaaS database. The SaaS database has risks than include security of the information. I think the benefits of SaaS database outweigh the limitations of the in-house database. There are companies that are external providers and some of them have good reputations in terms of security. Also I think it depends on the company and the economic system that they have because if the company has the money to build a IS infrastructure then why not maintain secured the data and not taking any risks.

3.- Are there any types of applications that should only be purchased rather than obtained through a SaaS relationship? If so, why or why not?

I think applications that involve personal information and data that are private need to be purchased rather than obtained trough a SaaS relationship. In the other hand applications with other purposes should be obtained through a SaaS relationship because its easier and faster.

The Netflix Prize

1.-In what ways could Netflix visualize movie ratings,preferences, or trends to provide its subscribers with additional “movie intelligence”

Probably by recommendation movies according to the genre that the person just watched. I think that is one major point in which Netflix could get more data from its customers. Also the second contest that Netflix was going to perform included key information like age, gender, and geographic location. I think those are major components in terms of predicting what would a customer want. Analyzing the data that would came out of that information would give Netflix a customize hint of what do each people want.

2.-What are the pros and cons of having the winner of the Netflix Prize share the improved Cinematch method

I think major pros was to increase competition and innovation among people that analyze data and try to develop higher revenues for a company. Also to increase the Cinematch method and making it more accurate. The cons that this Netflix Prize had was the use of private data. Personally I think that one was a major mistake by Netflix because I think they should respect the private information.

3.-Describe another problem in business or society that could utilize an approach similar to that for winning the Netflix Prize (i.e., a contest that anyone can try to solve)

Well many times this “prizes” tend to develop ideas and reward them at the end. I think there are major problems when this situations are utilized to perform something wrong to get the prize. In the case of Netflix they used the information but they made a mistake with the privacy of the data.

Global Picture Sharing: Flickr

1. Why do you think Flickr has been so popular throughout the world?

Because of they developed unique features then. One of them where the “tag” option that Flickr introduced to the online photo sharing. The organization of the photos that make users easy to find them also was a unique feature. Also notes in images tell short stories about the person involved in the picture. Flickr integrated Facebook connect in 2010 and this allowed users to connect with Facebook from Flickr page. Also Flickr added Yahoo! maps and included geotagged photos. This feature helped users to utilize images uploaded by other users as references especially in places where “street views” were not available.

2. What lessons could a Web site for a local business learn from Flickr?

Even though Flickr and a business We site are totally different there are lessons that businesses can learn from Flickr. Some of the lessons that a business can learn are the constant improvement that Flickr did in order to satisfy their users. They realized that photo sharing already existed but they added new features that make the site unique and popular. So innovation combined with improvement are two main things that Flickr applied to their site and I think a business can apply to their Web Site too.

3. Where do you see the future of Flickr in the face of many competing photo sharing applications?

There are huge competition in the photo sharing applications and sites. A site that was considered to be the next social media giant is Pinterest. Pinterest also works with the photo sharing basis. Pinterest has been considered the third social media site with more impact behind Facebook and Twitter. This site works with a similar feature from Flickr, the tagging option is also available in Pinterest. Pinterest was developed after Flickr and also is being utilized in some businesses as a social media tool.

Wikipedia: Who is Editing?

1. Do you use Wikipedia for your research? Why or Why not?

Sometimes, because it gives a broad explanation of the thing you are looking for. Wikipedia is a source where anybody can change the information and that is a problem because as the article says many politicians and companies changed information in their favor or deleted some information. Wikipedia also is one of the most popular websites and it has over 22 million articles in 285 languages. I think many of the articles in Wikipedia have the main information of the topics but for a higher research I would use some other sources.

2. Have you ever made a change to a Wikipedia entry? If you were to see an obvious mistake (in your opinion), would you take the time to change it? Why or Why not?

No I never change nothing in Wikipedia. It depends because if you have the time to do it then fine but if you do not have the time to do it then it probably going to stay as it is. Many people do not use Wikipedia as the main source and a person could realize that there is a mistake and use other sources and try to get the accurate information.

3. Anyone can edit entries on Wikipedia. Do you see this as a curse or as a blessing? Explain.

I think is an option that Wikipedia has but is not the kind of website that should allow everybody to edit their information. I think that Wikipedia should have a team of people editing the information if it changes. As the article says many companies and politicians had changed many information that is not beneficial for the persons that use Wikipedia frequently. Also Wikipedia is not as  bad because of their trust reputation because many times they have the right information. So their bigger problem is their editing policy that anyone can change the information.

Digg.com: The Rise and Fall of a Social Media Giant

1. What are the positives and negatives to a news site that organizes its stories using user input?

The positive things are that users can place their preferences first so this attracts more users to see the news that many other users place as the trending. This gives users the freedom of choosing whatever they want and make everybody else watch it.

The negative side of this is the poor control of the site.Users had almost the entire control of the site. As the article says there were an issue where cyber criminals used Digg to spread a malware.

2. Can you imagine a similar fate happening to other social media sites such as Facebook? Why or why not?

Why not, everything can happen. The future is uncertain and in social media and technology I think is more unpredictable. Probably not as similar to Digg, but probably Facebook or Twitter can be overcome by another trending social media. There are many social sites that offer different services to users. I think the major threat that these big social media sites face are the users, if users stop using them or replace them for other ones then they will disappear. Also Facebook and Twitter nowadays are at the top of the trending social media and for now they seem to be very strong because of the support given by the users.

3. What may be the next social media giant?

Many people think that pinterest is becoming the next social media giant. Pinterest has become a popular social media in which their users can search for specific pictures according to the keywords that those images have. Pinterest was released in 2009 and since then has experienced a rapid growth. This social media site has over 10 million monthly visitors and is considered in the third position after Facebook and Twitter.

Netflix

1. Can local video stores survive in the digital world? Contrast their evolution with that of local bookstores. What is similar? What is unique?

I think video stores are not going to last long because the digital world has taken this business. The digital options such as Netflix offer faster products and also they have a wider variety of products. They have different evolution processes. Video stores began when technology was not as developed as when Netflix started. They are similar in the business field both of them provide entertainment. The difference is that Netflix has been connected with new technology and that make the company to grow up because it offered a faster and varied product in comparison with video stores.

2. Forecast the future of Netflix in regard to the advent of on-demand video where any type of video content is available at any time on any device.

It is a very complex company that has taken advantage of the technology to perform their way of business. I think Netflix has developed their product available in almost every device and that would make Netflix stay in the market for a long time.  Costumers want faster products and with a big variety and that is what Netflix offers and make it different from other companies that offer the same service. Also Netflix has an advantage over their competition because they were probably the first online movie rental to enter the market of entertainment.

3. Discuss whether and how Netflix can maintain its competitive advantage.

Netflix has an advantage over their competition because Netflix has created consumers loyalty. Netflix costumers are satisfied with the service that they are receiving. As long as Netflix continues with that efficiency it would maintain the advantage that they have. Also the competition is not as developed as Netflix. Also to maintain that advantage Netflix has to move along with the newest technological advances.