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The Future of TV: What’s After HD?

July 25, 2011 By

On January 1, 1954, television viewers were treated to a glimpse of the future with the very first national broadcast in color — the Tournament of Roses Parade — but only 200 RCA sets capable of showing it existed. Talk about low ratings!

However, it still signified the death of black-and-white and the things to come for TV. Since then, rabbit ears have been replaced by excellent digital cable service, like www.direct.tv, and grainy picture quality has given way to crystal-clear high definition. So what does the future hold for your next home entertainment system? Let’s see.

3D: Things Get a Little Closer

The glasses have changed — they’re made of LCD lenses instead of thin plastic and are much more expensive — but the concept is the same. Readily available, for a price, from electronic retailers, 3D TVs fool your brain with alternating screen images and shuttering lenses to make you feel like you’re in the action.

However, follow the rules and avoid watching television in 3D while drunk or pregnant. Fortunately, 3D TVs are being developed and are starting to hit stores that will not require the use of special glasses. So far, 3D is popular among sports fans and male viewers of The Hills, but that is sure to change once prices start to decrease.

Internet: Your TV Becomes a Computer

Hate when nothing’s on? With Internet TV you can only blame yourself for being indecisive or production studios for making horrible programs — we’re looking at you Baywatch Nights.

Internet-connected televisions access the Web similar to computers but offer a more personalized viewing experience than normal TVs, letting you watch what you want to watch by streaming your favorite shows through services like Netflix and Hulu. Or you can catch up on the latest way someone can injure their groin on YouTube.

UD: Ultra Definition

As television screens start taking over larger portions of your living room walls, better picture quality will have to follow suit. Farther into the future, and farther back in the dictionary, will be ultra definition television.

UDTVs will boast around 3840 x 2160 pixel resolutions compared to the 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution in HD. One thing; such picture quality will provide extreme zooming capabilities. Again, it will probably be pretty popular with men who watch shows like The Hills.

Visible Light Communication: Light Speaks to You

In the future, the backlighting of your television may do much more than display an image. Each tiny backlight just might send you complex pieces of information. Visible light communication technology utilizes LED lights to send information through high frequency blinking.

Such technology will make it possible to control devices with lighting and open a Pandora’s box for advertisers. One day, simply turning on your TV will make you thirsty for a Coke.

Shrinking Bezels: Stack Screens Like Blocks

The bezel is the edge of your television where glass panels meet to form the LCD screen, pretty much dead space. Eliminate bezels and you have a seamless screen, and possibly the TV screen of the future.

Samsung is the first to give it a shot, scaling down bezel size to 7.33mm for new TV from Runco, the luxury home-entertainment retailer, called WindowWall (pity the neighborhood kid who puts a baseball through this window). And with thin bezels, you can stack several screens in numerous combinations anywhere in your home.

Quantum Dots: Bend Your TV

If Dippin’ Dots is the future of ice cream, then quantum dots just may be the future of television. These semiconducting nanocrystals shine brightly when stimulated by light or electric current, using significantly less energy than LCDs.

Scientists at Samsung have started to tap their potential by placing them on flexible plastic and charging them with a thin-film transistor. That means, in the future your TV might be made of some interesting material, such as plastic or rubber that can be bent and stretched as you see fit.

Smell-O-Vision: Get a Whiff of Your TV

One day, you may find yourself wondering what smells so good, only to realize it’s your television. That’s right; your future TV may be capable of emitting odors in accordance to what’s on your screen. You’ll be able to smell the latest creation from Emeril’s kitchen or the dead body floating in a New York harbor on CSI (okay, maybe not this).

Already, University of California, San Diego researchers have created a small box that uses electric currents to heat liquid solutions inside and produce a combination of 10,000 distinct smells. Based on the setting or featured objects on screen, such a device embedded in your TV will concoct the appropriate odor to stimulate another one of your senses. Can we consider this 4-D? If so, 5-D TVs just might be serving you lunch.

Conclusion: A More Interactive TV

Today, it’s safe to say watching TV is no longer simply staring at a box. But in the future, watching TV at home will be an even more interactive experience with additional sensory stimulations. You will be able to physically manipulate your TV, while advertisers will draw you in with much more than clever Super Bowl commercials. No pun intended, but the future of TVs in homes looks bright.

Filed Under: Business, Upcoming Industries

Selecting a Savvy Online Trading Broker: Practical Tips & Warnings

July 13, 2011 By
Online Trading Broker.

With the massive amount of stock market information that’s floating around the Internet, you may have the notion that you know enough to make your own plays. While this may or may not be true, one thing is: All online trading brokers are not equal. Here are some practical tips and warnings to help you find the best online trading broker for your investing style:

Tip: Upfront Research Can Save You a Bundle


Believe it or not, some online brokers aren’t even qualified to make trades. Every stockbroker must pass both the Series 7 and the Series 63 licensing exams and maintain a current registration with the North American Securities Administration Association. Before giving out your hard-earned cash, check with your local NASAA regulatory board to see if the broker has a current registration and if there are any pending complaints or disciplinary actions.

Even if the broker is aboveboard, it doesn’t mean he’s good at his job. If it’s a full-service broker (you’re paying extra for investment guidance), ask for a performance review covering the last five years. Any broker worth his salt will proudly offer this information along with comparisons to the overall industry performance for the same time period.

Tip: Evaluate Your Investment Style


Even if the online broker is extremely qualified, fully registered, and has a sterling reputation in the field, it doesn’t mean that this is the right site for you. Like all good e-businesses, expect each broker to concentrate on a specific niche and tailor her pricing to meet the needs of her target customers.

Decide which of these niches you fitinto and choose accordingly:

  • New Investors — For higher commissions, you get a full-service broker who gives you plenty of advice and closely monitors your growing portfolio.
  • Passive Investors — Small-time investors who only have a little bit of cash to invest should look for a broker with no minimums and deep discounts on transaction fees.
  • Long-Term Investors — Large fund specialists charge more for frequent trades to encourage their customers to hold onto the fund for an extended time.
  • Active Investors — If you like to trade frequently, look for a broker with low commissions and fast turnaround times when you make a move. Some brokers batch trades and may not make the trade until the next day.
  • Day Traders — Most day traders use specialized brokers who offer real-time trades, live quotes, low commissions, and high-tech analytical tools. Expect to keep a minimum balance of around $25,000.

Warning: Pay Attention to the Fee Schedule


Carefully review all fees to make sure you understand what you’re paying for. If something sounds like a great deal, verify whether it’s an introductory offer and what you can expect to pay for the long haul. Ask about hidden fees in addition to per-transaction charges. Like all financial institutions, some brokers try to nickel and dime you with maintenance fees and other charges.

Here are some sample fees and charges:

  • Scottrade — $7 per trade, $27 per broker-assisted trade, no hidden fees
  • Ameritrade — $9.99 per trade, $44.99 per broker-assisted trade, $2 paper-statement fee
  • Zecco — 10 free trades per month with a $25K balance, $4.50 per trade, $19.99 per broker-assisted trade, $30 annual fee for IRA accounts
  • Vanguard — $25 and up per trade, $45 and up per broker-assisted trade, $30 annual maintenance fee
  • ING ShareBuilder — $4 per trade, $19.95 to sell within 90 days, $0.15 surcharge per stock on trades of more than 1,000 shares, $25 inactivity fee
  • E*Trade — $12.99 per trade, broker-assisted trade fees vary, $40 quarterly fee for not maintaining a minimum balance
  • Additional fees may also be charged for paper statements, obtaining the actual stock certificate, or transferring money out of your account.

Warning: Plan for an Emergency


While it’s fine to just interact with the web interface during your typical day, what would you do in an emergency? Make sure you can contact a live person just in case the system crashes or slows — or you’re away from an Internet connection — during a hot trading period. What if you needed to cash out immediately? Find out how long it would take to liquidate and get access to your investment.

To make sure you’re taken care of in a crisis, look for a broker with great customer service. Surprisingly, some of the biggest names in the online trading game don’t perform well in this category. In 2008, Kiplinger performed a little experiment to see how long it took some of the big names to respond to a simple email questions; here are the results:

  • Firstrade: 3 minutes
  • Schwab: 9 hours, 30 minutes
  • WellsTrade: 21 hours, 7 minutes

Tip: Look for Reinvestment Programs

DRIPS, or Dividend Reinvestment Plans, are one of the best ways to build an investment portfolio. Some stocks pay quarterly or yearly dividends. Instead of pocketing this cash, you can, in some cases, choose to reinvest this money in stock.

With this plan, each dividend check should be slightly larger and buy a little bit more stock so that your holdings grow exponentially. If this sounds like a plan, make sure your online broker or your stock holdings offer this feature. In most cases, you shouldn’t have to pay a brokerage fee to take part in a DRIP.

Tip: Do You Need Other Services?


Some online brokers offer IRA accounts, checking and savings accounts, and even debit-card access to your accounts. Others don’t even allow you to purchase mutual funds or buy a full range of stocks. Pick an online broker that has the right services to meet your needs.

Of course, you can expect just about ever extra service to come with some type of fee whether it’s specifically stated or simply worked into some other hidden maintenance charge.

CONCLUSION

In a 2006 study conducted by Kiplinger, 3.8 million online brokerage accounts were created in the first six months of that year. In the same timeframe, online trading increased by 87 percent. These numbers illustrate that online trading is more popular than ever and, by using these tips and warnings, you can pick a savvy online trading broker with a menu of services and a fee schedule that meets your individual investment needs.

Filed Under: Upcoming Industries

Filling the Need

May 9, 2011 By
Leotis engages attendees in the value proposition

Image by One Laptop per Child via Flickr

There is an old saying when it comes to entrepreneurialism- all you have to do is find a need and fill it. However, sometimes identifying a need you can actually fill becomes a serious challenge in itself. If you really think through the ideas you have, you might even identify several places where you can fill different needs. If not, you can always simply modify an existing value proposition to work for a different group.

Everyone who markets intelligently knows that when you want to target a particular group, you can do far better than if you tried to target everyone. While some massive companies have the kind of budget necessary to target numerous different kinds of individuals or companies, reaching and successfully marketing to everyone is a pipe dream on its best day. Once you have identified a need, all you have to do is figure out who both understands that they have this need, and is willing to compensate you accordingly to fill this need for them.

When you meet someone else’s needs, you do a lot more than just connect one person with something they desire and earn a profit in doing so. You open yourself up to all sorts of additional opportunities you might have otherwise never even considered. As you fill needs, you will usually find all sorts of additional needs connected to your original one. If they are reasonably similar, you may end up filling half a dozen needs without deviating much from your original business plan- which should always be open to some alterations as your business expands outward.

Filed Under: Upcoming Industries Tagged With: , ,

Cloud Computing is the New Black

February 3, 2011 By
Diagram showing overview of cloud computing in...

Image via Wikipedia

Cloud computing is a new term that small businesses all over the world are using now. It sounds like something one does from the skuy, but it’s all pretty down to earth. Cloud computing is utilizing software online rather than buying it.
No longer does every office need to be well-equipped with software for every function of the business in their office. These programs can be found online, cutting the operating budget of many companies. If there’s any updating to be done, the company providing the cloud computing service  will do it, freeing the office from having to handle such things or buy the updates.
Examples of cloud computing companies are Amazon Web Services, Salesforce.com, Google Apps and CRM and other service-providing sites. The only thing people are leery of about cloud computing is data security and privacy in keeping with industry standards. Vendor lock-in and high performing apps are sitting in wait to become cloud computing software.
Cloud Computing Keeps Business Down to Earth

There are also worries that the cloud computing service won’t be reliable. In today’s business services must be available; time is money and it could really set back a business who depended on a cloud computing service that didn’t deliver.
Vendors tell us that the information kept in the cloud is safer than our own computers are. We’re reminded of Dave Girouard who went to a business conference and his laptop ended up being stolen. Since his company utilizes cloud computing, all the company data was online and the only question he had for his boss was whether he was to replace it with a pc or mac. So this company was saved a huge headache by using cloud computing.
Nicholas Carr, author of “The Big Switch” tells us that technology industries will follow the same passageway of many electric power industry companies, whereby many independent outfits made way for fairly few service providers. In the cases of Google and Amazon, they will carry much of the load of the infrastructure, capacity and services users consume.
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Market Researchers Might be Necessary

December 23, 2010 By

Market Researchers Might be Necessary

There is one thing that every business has in common and that is the theory of supply and demand. There must be a need for a product or service in order to maintain a business presence. This is the same for all business models and is only changed based on the target markets changing needs and desires. This information needs to be continually refreshed in order to stay on top of the target market and keep them coming back for more. Knowing this information is the key to any business success. If you do not keep up with the needs and desires of your market your business will slow and profit margin shrink leaving you with a business that fulfills a need.

One of the best ways to continue to keep the customers coming in and the profits up is to keep up with a need and fill a void in the market for a service or product. In order to do this business owners need to understand their individual markets and how they change. They need to be able to anticipate the market changes before they happen to get ahead of the needs of their customers. This may require enlisting some help in the way of market researchers who can spend the time researching market trends. This will allow them to forecast the developments of the market and help predict what will happen next and allow business owners to prepare their business to be ahead of the turns.

Choosing to hire help in predicting the market changes is a decision that may be difficult. You may feel like you are paying for information in advance that may or may not be accurate. However, it is an excellent way to stay ahead of the game and have enough research to develop products and services your customers will want.

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Types of Import and Export Businesses: Export Management Company or EMC

December 5, 2010 By

Types of Import and Export Businesses: Export Management Company or EMC

When you are learning about import and export business, one of the things that you are going to want to consider is the types of import and export businesses that are available. For example, while there are obviously both import businesses and export businesses, there are also a number of variations on the same theme. The first type of import and export business is the Export Management Company or EMC.

An Export Management Company or EMC is designed to handle the export operations for any domestic company that is interested in selling its products and goods overseas, but that does not know how to do it. Some businesses are interested in learning the how, while others are not. The Export Management Company is responsible for doing pretty much everything including hiring dealers, hiring distributors and hiring developers, handling the marketing, promotions and advertising, overseeing the packaging and marketing, arranging for shipping and sometimes even arranging for the financing needs of the company as well.

In many cases, the Export Management Company may be responsible for taking title to whatever goods are being sold, in essence behaving as a private distributor for those goods. In most cases, the Export Management Company can specialize based on product or foreign market, or they may specialize in both at once. Unless they have taken the title of the products they are helping to sell, these types of businesses are generally paid based on salary, commission or a retainer plus a commission.

Companies that want to sell their products overseas but simply do not know what it takes to do so, or companies that want to sell overseas without actually handling any of the process can benefit from what this type of import / export company has to offer them.

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Types of Import and Export Businesses: Export Trading Company or ETC

December 4, 2010 By

Types of Import and Export Businesses: Export Trading Company or ETC

When it comes to learning about the business of import and export, one thing that you are going to want to come to understand is the various types of importation and exportation businesses that exist. For example, while there are your basic import businesses and export businesses, you will also find that there are several variations on this same theme. The second type of import and export business that we are going to look at is the Export Trading Company or ETC.

The Export Trading Company is similar to an Export Management Company in that they are both export companies, but there are some big differences as well. While an Export Management Company has the merchandise that needs to be sold, and then simply has to concentrate its energies on finding the right buyers, Export Trading Companies on the other hand are designed to attack from what is essentially the other side of the fence.

The purpose of an Export Trading Company or an ETC is to identify the types of products that foreign buyers are interested in spending their money on. Once they know what foreign buyers are specifically looking to purchase, then they go on to hunt down the domestic sources that are actually willing to export those goods. For example, if a company in France wants to import a specific dessert wine from California, then the ETC will search California for a company that is willing to export that wine to France so that the French company can sell it there.

Sometimes an Export Trading Company will take a title to whatever goods are being sold. On the other hand, sometimes an Export Trading Company will simply work based on commission when setting up these relationships between domestic and foreign companies.

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