The Executive Summary

                    
For some time, I have been on this jounrney with my bright idea which has evolved to become Get Connected. It has developed from a mere inkling to a more fully developed business idea that I can pitch to prospective investors. Conducting further research, there is definintly a market for this product and very little direct competetitors. The only service that I can see as a direct competetior is Zarrly.com and craiglist. Other indirect competetiors would be amazon, or Ebay as these sites allow for different users to search for products but they do not offer client services like craiglist and zarrly. With this void in the market, I feel that this product would have great success fufilling this niche on college campuses.

          With the combination of cutting edge technology ie RFID chips, voice recognition- I believe that Get Connected can be a campus favorite. College students are always open to networking and meeting new people. There usually is a better relationship between two parties if there are similar interests that they are both connected with. The time and hassle of trying to meet your needs quickly, can be resolved by linking up with a person in your local area, It is time to increase our LAN in our communities.
            Spending time on this project, really made me think of how I can actually apply the information that I am learning into my daily life for something that can be usable and revolutionary for the future. It also allowed me to see that everyone can be an entrepreneur. There is not a specific entrepreneur gene that specific people are given.

Here are the links/ photosof the three comments that I posted:

http://beautyisonlyhairdeep.blogspot.com/

 

http://himynameisjustinlaw.blogspot.com/

Amit Agarwal- India's first and only professional Blogger

            After reviewing multiple professional bloggers in the technology field, I came across Amit Agarwal. He is recognized for being India's first and only professional blogger. His accomplishments include graduating from IIT with an Engineering degree in Computer Science, working with clients such as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, and his award winning blog Digital Inspiration.
            Digital Inspiration which was created in 2004 was designed to allow for the average consumer to have understanding of web technologies and software tools to its simplest form. His main purpose is to make more efficient use of peoples time. Amit's blog has been the leader of India's blogging revolution. Filled with hundreds of how to videos for its viewers, the average consumer can develop to become a techie. Topics include everyday items that we use and make inquiries about. Topics include: customizing a FB page, building an android app for your blog, and creating your own crossword puzzles.
              He also provides a great way for the average user to connect with other technology bloggers and experts in the field. Under the favorite websites tab, users can browse the various websites for further information on other technology gadgets. He also has a Ask question interface where users can post questions for other viewers to respond.

Website: http://www.labnol.org/

Week 6- Operating Systems

        In today's world, it is very rare that you find someone that does not have smartphones. People need to be connected to their email, media capabilities, and browsing with the fastest speed available 24/7. For this reason, phone capabilities need to be continuously evolving. Phone apps have been very popular and dominated the market for this reason. Anything that you can think of, there is an app for that in which you can download. In this way, users phones are always expanding and fulfilling multi porposes and desires for mutiple users. You can customize your phone to fit your individual needs.
         For my service trading service, I would create an application that will be compatiable across the Blackberry, Andriod, and Iphone Operating Systems. It would be developed on these multi-tasking operating systems compared to single tasking  as users today are all about multi tasking and being connected to their phone. These are also the dominant phone operating systems in the market so it makes the most sense to develop a app for mobile purposes through this medium.
                 Instead of having a RFID Scanner, I would create an app that would be able to pick up RFID signals from the RFID chips that would be embedded in the membership cards. In this way while users are on the go and they may want to be spontaneous, they can easily take out their phones and get easily connected to users. Members can search for a matching RFID signal which will bring up a search box for them to type in their inquiry. Users can easily connect with one another and expand their local network. This embodies accessibility and user friendly qualities of my service trading business. I would provide the application free for users as the cost would be compensated for in the annual package deal that they would pay for annual membership.
         




     

Week 5- Storage/ Computer Forensics

          
         As we are in the age of modern technology, there are continual advancements and innovations. Samples are collected, trials are repeated, variables are manipulated, projects are started,progress and failures are made every day.  The possibilities truly seem endless. With this continual work of progress concept, there are always questions about security. When banking moved to being paperless and transitioned to online banking, issues in regard to hacking was a great concern. As we continue to move forward, customer convenience seems to increase but customer security is a dimenshing concept.
       For this reason, I would invest in programs for my company to protect against identity theft and hacking. Protective measures that I would encorporate for secure browsing for users is using https certified webpages and webservices such as gmail to allow for secure exchanges of  private information across different web pages. I would also shread all financial documents and check my credit report annually using Equifax and Transunion to ensure that there is no suspicious activity on my company profile. There would be a limit on the amount of staff that has login access to financial sites and continually update my anti-virus and firewall security system. When throwing out computers, I would appropriately remove and recycle them to avoid easy information retrieval. Since computers are really great at storing information even information that you may have placed in the recycling bin, when replacing computers I would rewrite the hardware by placing each item with a single character.
        With applications such as Google Wallet, it is very efficient to avoid the inconvenience of carrying around a wallet. Yet there is also the disadvantage of giving someone access to all of your financial information just by the touch of a button. Even though, the user would have to input a pin, that still does not ensure security. The same precaution is used with bank accounts yet during the midst of a robbery the robber can ask you to input your pin and withdraw all of your hard cash earnings in the blink of an eye.


 

Week 4- Input/Output

     Google has always been a corportation that continously pushes the envelope in the technology realm. With their inventions of services such as Google 411 and Google docs which uses cloud computing to allow multiple users  to simaltenously view various documents. Their new invention of Google Wallet is something that is currently unaware to the critical mass but seems to fill a void in the market that will attract a large following.
         Similar to the NFC chip that was used in the Nexus 4G which includes the Google Wallet application, I would invest in using RFID chips to keep track of inventory. For the barterting services program, each member would have to sign up online. Within 3-4 business days, members will receive a membership card embedded with a RFID chip. The RFID chip would be able to indicate the total amount of cards in stock within seconds instead of tracking each product individually with barcodes. Reviewing this instant information, I can go ahead and contact suppliers when the inventory is running low.  It can also be used for users to see where in the local area other members may provide a product or service that they can trade with and get in contact with. Kind of similar to the bluetooth concept, where members can instantenously exchange contact information with someone else that they picked up a RFID signal.
             Having the RFID chips embedded in the cards, would be a easier way to connect with more users and to enlargen peoples local networks. To allow for security, users would need to insert a pin to request permission from the users. With technology moving forward, this seems to be the path of the future.

   

Week 3- Hardware

                
       For my business, I would want to use the most cutting edge technology available. For this reason, I would build my computer to include a USB 3 Port instead of the standard USB 2 Port which would allow for faster data transfers. I would also invest into multiple USB hubs to allow for further devices to be connected for my employees. I would use Pcie cards for faster speed advantages.
                       For the RAM, I would use 3-4 GB to allow for my employees to virtualize their computer settings. As it would be primarily used for  business purposes such as spreadsheet and financial programs, web sites,  and video conferfencing this would allow for more than enough space.
                         Since my website is not something that is graphically intensive, I would not need to invest in extensive graphing capabilities and alot of RAM. For the business computer access, it would be mostly used for database purposes to be able to track users input informtation for their requests and for other users to find or search their inquiry.

Week 2- Social Media Privacy/ Excel

            For my company either Rate Your landlord or the services trading program, having a social media presence would be very critical and crucial for the success of my business. It is very rare that you are not able to find a company or individual without a social media presence especially on Facebook. Companies use this venue as a place to attract new clients and also to retain the clients that they currently have. For this reason, having a positive social media brand reputation is something that I would ensure with my newly established company. I would hire a couple of employees or use interns to develop a social media team.
            Aside from my company's social media brand, my own social media presence as CEO is just as important. Similar to how Professor Rubin is very cautious and purposeful with his social media presence being CEO of Sidearm Sports, I will also take the same measures. I would need to be  conscience about the brand that I am presenting to current and prospective clients through the social media medium. One way to protect myself, is to constantly evaluate my privacy settings. As Facebook privacy settings are constantly changing, it would be my responsibility to update and maintain the desired protection for my FB profile. This allows me to have control over tagging photos and friends and wall posts which are what viewers can see and past judgement.
            To ensure that my FB privacy settings are accurate, I would do weekly checks where I would ask one of my staff members to evaluate my FB presence to see how much information they can retrieve from FB and also what control they have on my profile. I would also conduct weekly Google searches to see what information is out there on the web for anyone to see. I would also work alongside with my IT department to ensure that any information that should be secure is in a safely protected environment away from hackers.
             For accurate file keeping, I would store information in Excel databases or other similar programs. I would use the conditional formatting for documents where I would want to quickly recieve data with visual organization. I would also create visual presentations of data with charts, tables, and graphs.   Excel is also great for saving time by using quick functions such as Sum and Average to analyze large sums of data.

Bright Idea- Week 1- Social Media/ General Computing



                    Another great social network that would be great is something that would allow users to trade services without a fee. In this way people could meet others in their local network and even take it abroad. If someone wanted to learn German and the other user wanted to learn Spanish the two can connect and learn languages. This would be a great way to interconnect the SU community and encourage more integration instead of segregation. It can even be taken abroad by connecting with a user who is a German native and connect with them using Skype and Facebook to learn German.
                   The site can also be used for recreation purposes. If you have always wanted to learn how to juggle and another user wanted to learn how to ride a unicycle the users can be linked. Through this way, both users can fulfill this desire. Users can stay updated with one anothers progress by posting pictures and videos on their FB page and Youtube. This again showcases how social networking have become a major part in our modern life and can be used for a more productive purpose.
                  With this website, I think it would be a great way to make the world smaller once again, a great way to connect with people on the SU campus. With people connected on their personal laptops and mobile devices, it would be easier for users to connected.
                  Another idea that I worked on in IST 444, is Ratemylandlord.com. This would be something similar to ratemyprofessor.com where students can talk about their experiences about their landlord and give them a rating. This would be a great addition for the SU campus as something of this sort does not currently exist. In this way, students can feel more comfortable about making housing decisions and landlords can interact with prospective tenants. Students can read previous tenants review and comments and landlords can market their property and interact with tenants beforehand. Both parties could be happy and have a forum/space to connect with one another.