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The Voice Activated Future

July 12, 2011 By
Traffic congestion, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Image via Wikipedia

By now, anyone having used a GPS unit wonders how they ever found their way around without one. But it can be irritating to constantly type in the address of choice for users. One new innovation that gets rid of this annoyance is the ability to input the address by voice. Voice recognition software has come a long way from its early days, in which even basic words were muddled up by the microphone’s ‘ears,’ resulting in a jumbled outcome. With better voice inputting abilities, today’s generation of gadgets that recognize voice commands seems slick indeed.

And the technology shows no sign of abating, either. Rather, more and more devices are offering this technology, as users appreciate the hands-free nature of the system. As it has been recognized by many states that typing while driving is dangerous – and thus made illegal – it’s especially nice for on-the-go consumers to be able to operate smartphones, GPS units, and many other devices with voice inputs alone.

Even automobiles have gotten in on the game, offering a slew of voice activated services. Ford offers drivers the ability to play music, make phone calls, and keep in touch with the vehicle’s needs all by voice control. But there’s more to it. Get into a wreck and need help? You can contact 911 without digging out a cell phone. Need a weather update on your destination? You can call that up with a voice command. And even traffic reports can be accessed, to avoid any traffic jams along the way. Encounter a jam? Use the voice activated GPS to find another route!

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World Cotton Shortage Drives Clothing Prices Up

February 23, 2011 By
Cotton is the highest it’s been in 150 years. Just February 11. 2011 the price of cotton went up to $1.90 per pound. The last time it was that high was during the Civil War, when cotton was $1.89 per pound, according to the International Cotton Advisory Committee. Astounding, isn’t it? Cotton, during the Civil War was as high as it is today!
Cotton prices really began rising after bad weather all over the world effected the harvests. August of 2010 saw poor harvests in Australia, Pakistan, China and the US. Remember all the flooding, earthquakes and landslides? Clothing prices will go up by at least ten percent this spring.
The US has enjoyed clothing prices that have been down over the last decade or so. It’s already not easy for people with kids in school, so we can expect it to be harder yet. Mom and Pop stores are going to be hardest hit with the price hike; they have little or no control and less power to negotiate prices from suppliers.
Cotton Growers Reeling After Weather

China is the largest exporter of cotton and the world’s second largest cotton producer is India, and both countries have reported cotton shortages. One quarter to one half of the cost of producing a garment is raw materials, and labor comes in at 20-40 percent depending on construction of the garment.
Even the world’s largest retailer, Walmart, is feeling the crunch of the cotton shortage. Mike Duke, CEO and president of Wal-Mart says there’s going to be some price increases but that’s not their first answer to the cotton shortage. They will avoid passing the price hike to customers if at all possible.
As the world comes out of the recession there will be more jobs available, and prices will go up more. Inflation is going to effect more of us than it has in ten years.
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Microsoft and Nokia are Teaming up for Profits

February 8, 2011 By
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was off to a dizzying start this year, with Samsung and Sony Ericsson announcing they will introduce five new mobile phones based on the Android platform.
Finland’s Nokia, the worlds biggest mobile phone manufacturer, isn’t launching any handsets this year, surprisingly. Jo Harlow, Nokia VP in Charge of Smart Devices implied that they just may have something to introduce this year, and it may be the company’s first handset that uses Windows Phone 7.
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said that they didn’t want to prematurely make such an announcement unless they had hard core certainty on the date of introduction. In recent years Nokia has had to postpone new projects because of software-related problems.
Symbian is not Dead

Harlow said the semi-retired Symbian platform will update the interface and improve the user’s experience. Symbian will be relied upon for certain items indefinitely, there’s no reason to stop using something that’s working.
Elop further stated that the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft is synergistic and there’s a “massive” reward that will be in the billions of dollars for both companies. Nokia’s extensive software research and development attracted Microsoft’s attention and they approached Nokia. The announcement was met with such cynicism that the Finnish firm’s shares fell by 14% on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.
Nokia decided against joining the Android wave because it comes with it’s own massive sales figures, and they’d have been dwarfed next to Android’s sales figures. That would have made Android technology seem like an advanced platform compared to everything else. Elop said that teaming up with Microsoft will benefit Nokia in sales and marketing support and cut down it’s overhead, research and development costs.
He expects that once Microsoft begins to use Nokia’s technology (in the form of digital maps and location services) the benefit value may be in the  millions. This is a win/win situation.
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Avoid Working too Hard for Rental Property Investments

February 2, 2011 By
Las Vegas property management. They oversee properties from start to finish. Investors need the right help so they can concentrate on all their investments, not just on rental properties.

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What Is Supply?

January 11, 2011 By

Supply of a product refers to the amount of that product on which manufacturers are willing to sell at the given point of time while other things being constant. The Supply curve is always positive sloped and show the relationship of price of the commodity and quantity of that particular commodity supplied.

Same like Demand, there are many factors which affect the supply of a particular commodity and can affect the seller’s willingness to supply goods.

First of all supply of a product is affected by its own price. If the price of the product is getting higher then it means the demand of that product is rising, which means the supply of that commodity will also raise and vice e versa.
Second factor which affects the supply of the commodity is price of goods present in the market which are in same product line. It means if there are more competitors present in the market of a particular commodity then the supply of that commodity will be affected as buyer will buy any of the product.

Third affecting factor is technology. Goods which are manufactured using old technology or goods which belong to old technology have generally very low price when compared to the goods which are manufactured by new technology for modern market. The low price refers to low demand of that product hence there will be low supply of these products.

Government policies and regulations also affect the Supply of a commodity. Change in government taxes and regulations affect the supply chain of a commodity. Suppliers need to deposit more taxes on a supply of a commodity so sometime supplier may think not to supply that kind of product to market. Sometimes, government bans some products in particular area which led to no supply of that product in that area.

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What Is Demand?

January 9, 2011 By

Demand is nothing but the real need of a person for a product or commodity. It is caused when the price for a product decreases or its value increases. Usually demand curve have downward slope to show the direct relationship between price of the commodity and quantity demanded of that particular commodity.

There are many factors which affect the demand of a particular commodity and can affect the buyer’s willing ness to go for a commodity.

First of all price of that particular commodity is the main factor as price of the commodity shows its targeted market. If the price is low then it means any class of the consumer can buy that product but if the price is set too high then only upper class of consumers can go for it.

Second thing which affect demand is price of another goods present in the market or in simple words price of the competitor’s product. Price should also be set in comparison to competitor’s product in the same product line. The best example is of Pepsi and Coca Cola, they offer same thing to the market but if the price of Pepsi raises then people will shift to Coca Cola as they are from same product line.

Third factor is Income of a buyer. Income of buyer gives him purchasing power to go to the market and shop for products but if the income is low then people will not have high buying power as a result only necessary goods will sell, they will not go for high end product line.

Fourth factor is taste and preferences of the society. Taste and preference of a society also have direct effect on demand of a particular commodity. For example if a trend of Society sets towards Mercedes then more people living in that society will tend towards Mercedes to make their status.

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Introduction to International Trade / Importing and Exporting

December 7, 2010 By

Introduction to International Trade / Importing and Exporting

International trade, importing and exporting are quickly becoming one of the hottest industries of today, even though this is not a new industry by any means. Trade across countries and across the globe has been an important part of life since the days of Marco Polo, or even the great caravans during the biblical age that carried cargoes full of spices and silks. Even prehistoric man contributed to importation and exportation by trading salt and shells with tribes from distant lands. Trade has always existed because every group and every country has some kind of merchandise or commodity in great supply that is in great demand someplace else.

As the world becomes increasingly technologically advanced, international trade is only becoming increasingly rewarding, not only in terms of personal satisfaction but also in terms of profiting as well.

Importing is not ideal for lonesome adventurer types, but rather it is big business for absolutely everyone who is willing to participate. For example, according to the United States Department of Commerce, there are approximately $1.2 trillion dollars in goods being imported annually around the world, and exportation is just as large as importation for obvious reasons. In a single year alone, companies in America have exported as much as $772 billion dollars worth of merchandise to as many as 150 different countries throughout the world.

Everything can be exported and imported from commodes to beverages, furniture, coffee and more. All of these pieces of merchandise are fair game for a savvy trader. As such, these products are being sold and bought, represented and distributed all over the world every single day. Importation and exportation are big business throughout the globe for obvious reasons, and the international marketplace is really only growing as time passes and more countries and consumers become aware of the benefits of the international marketplace.

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Introduction to International Trade / Importing and Exporting pt 2

December 6, 2010 By

Introduction to International Trade / Importing and Exporting pt 2

When learning about international trade, importation and exportation, one of the biggest questions that may come to mind is why importing and exporting is such big business around the world. In the United States as well as all around the world, there are a myriad of reasons why importing is big business, but the most important ones are these three:

Availability of Products: Some things simply cannot be made or grown in a home country. The availability of products plays an essential role in the benefits of importing and exporting. For example, Alaska will never be able to grown bananas, Maine will never be able to grow mahogany lumber, and you will never find Ball Park franks being made in France, but all of these items can be imported in.

Product Cachet: Cachet is the image that certain items portray. Some things, like champagne and caviar have a better image when you import them. This is why we prefer to drink German beers, to buy Swedish furniture, to wear French perfume, to sleep in Egyptian cotton. Even when these things can be made domestically, importing them has additional benefits. Things simply seem a whole lot classier when you import them in from the best places around the world.

Product Price: Sometimes when you buy products in another country, it leads to cheaper prices. Buying electronics from Taiwan, clothing from Mexico or toys from Korea are just a couple of examples of this principle in application. Because these items are assembled or otherwise manufactured in a foreign factory, they can be made more cheaply and imported into the country to be resold for a higher profit margin.

These are just three of the benefits that are associated with import and export businesses and how businesses and consumers can benefit from importing and exporting goods around the world.

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