Animation Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Animation Critique - Essay Example Utilization of animatronics is expected to fade off in the next ten years in the entertainment industry. Film producers have been adopting several new mechanisms of public entertainment (Abbott, pg. 252). They are creating a realistic interaction of the imaginative objects and people. Engineers are improving the technology day by day, to suit the diverse and rapidly changing needs of the target populations. A revolution is expected to happen as the machines become sophisticated day by day. Essentially, scientists are even coming up with a mechanism where such robots will even be in a position to think and act just as human beings do (Schell, pg. 97). The e-robots will have an instinct ability that will reason just as human beings. It will be in a position to detect human emotions such as sadness or happiness. Out of detecting the human emotional happiness, the machine will act to improve the human mood. It will further create a close connection with the human beings (Peltoniemi, pg. 350). Additionally, toy robots are becoming of great use among the children, who are discarding the traditional toys. In essence, machines are replacing all the functions in all sectors. Therefore, extreme changes are expected with reference to the animatronics use in

Business strategy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business strategy - Assignment Example Indian restaurant owners would already have a solid customer base from which to work from, and there is also the possibility of picking up some other ethnicities too. Cheap Indian food could be offered by encouraging Indian to be spoken within the restaurant, thus attracting the target market. c) The video rental firm market segment is not as attractive as it used to be. This is because more and more young people are using other means to watch their favorite movies. This type of business could possibly work if it was attached to some other kind of product, most likely televisions or DVD players. Special promotions could even be used to encourage people to rent a video along with another kind of purchase. 2) I do not agree that the appropriate positioning is obvious once you have identified the right segment. This is because once the right segment has been discovered further research must be done to narrow down the target customer market. This could be done through surveys of focus groups. Also, the market is always evolving and changing, so it is impossible to automatically know where to position a product in the market. 3) An organization’s competitive stance is the segment of the target market that a company chooses to pursue: low-cost supplier, differentiation, or niche marketing. The functional strategy of marketing activity depends on what the competitive stance is. For example, a company that chooses a low-cost strategy must produce its products for as cheaply as possible in order to offer low prices. Also, this company would need to produce far more products than its competitors in order to make any kind of profit. In a well-designed strategy, an organization’s competitive stance and marketing activity can work well together as long as when one changes, the other one changes to reflect that change. 6) Apple has a competitive advantage over its competitors

Examining Netflixs Business Model

Examining Netflixs Business Model Analyze Netflixs business model? How does Netflix change the video distribution industry? Business Model Business Model describes how a company produces, delivers and sells a service or product to create value for its customers, shareholders and other stakeholders. Netflix a pioneer in the online DVD subscription services operates in the in-home entertainment video market. In-home distribution channels include home video rental and retail outlets, cable and satellite television, pay-per-view, VOD (video-on-demand), internet streaming and broadcast television. (Source:- Netflix Annual Report 2005 Section Industry Overview) Netflix started operations in 1997 and relied on the DVD format as the medium of in-home entertainment, although this format of viewing was restricted to a small population of affluent, technology-savvy customer base. Over a period of time DVD became accepted as the choice and its penetration into every household rose exponentially. Netflixs business model revolves around its home-grown proprietary software Cinematch which powers its website and a comprehensive information system to manage operations. The comprehensive information system allows it to manage and integrate business across order processing, customer service and fulfilment operations. This leads to maximum utilization of library and operate with a decreased number of customer reps. It had 100 customer reps to handle 115,000 customers in the early days, now it has 43 to handle 3.2 million customers. From a business perspective management, organizational and technical elements are aligned towards customer focussed innovations. Warehouse workers get free Netflix subscriptions and DVD players. Corporate Employees are kept happy with perks so that they are eager to solve tough engineering problems to improve user experience. Netflix and the video distribution industry Netflix changed the video distribution from a store based rental channel to an online subscription based distribution channel. The web-site enables subscription account signup and management, personalized movie merchandising, inventory optimization and customer support (Source:- Netflix Annual Report 2009). Coupled with features such as social networking (Friends) and queue management (Profiles) it compares each subscribers movie preferences derived from the individuals past ratings and rental patterns with preferences of other users contained in the database and comes up with personalized movie recommendations unique to each subscriber. The company leveraged on the power of Internet and technology to achieve two purposes (a) Enhance customer experience by providing them a web-based portal tailored to individual preferences. It comes up with a customer specific recommendation list based on the individuals ratings of past viewings. Customers can set up their queues and receive delivery through mail. There is no return deadline; no charges and the DVDs can be mailed back through pre-paid envelopes. (b) Enhance operational efficiency Traditional Video rental retail outlets would have to compromise on the number of titles available in each of its stores because of space constraints. Netflix has an advantage in being able to offer a much wider range of titles since the stock is piled in its warehouses. One of its core business strengths is its vast catalogue of not so popular and old time movies and TV show content which is cost effective to procure and profitable to sell, but is not available in conventional retail stores. Cinematch also avoids suggesting out-of-stock movies and ensures maximum utilization of inventory. An effective and comprehensive Information system enables it to distribute DVDs from the nearest warehouse through US Mail. There are 100 shipping points across the United States which enables the company to provide delivery in one business days for 97% of its customers. Advantages and Disadvantages to potential customers Advantages Personalized DVD rental services and movies through internet streaming. The recommendation software is quite accurate and is built on the customers historic choices and ratings. Coupled with the social networking feature (Friends) it avoids the customer to go through the hassles of selecting and ending up with something he does not like. Availability of a wide range of not so popular and old titles which are not available in a conventional DVD rental stores. Disadvantages The recommendation software purposefully omits out-of-stock titles and hence influences the choice of the customer. It is intentionally slowing down delivery to high volume customers which are not so profitable. Instead it gives a preference to the low volume members. Hence preferential treatment is given to the more profitable low volume customers. Ability to fight competition and sustain its own markets (Source: Annual Report 2009. From Sec Filings of 2010 Subscribers have increased to 20,010(in thousands), Revenues have increased to $2,162 Million and Net Income has increased to $161 Million) Netflix has continued to increase its subscription base, revenues and net income over the years. The following analysis is based on how information systems can address Porters competitive forces model Traditional Competitors, New Market Entrants, Substitute Products and Services, Customers and Suppliers Low-cost Leadership Netflix uses its information systems to ensure maximum utilization of inventory and avoiding recommending out-of-stock titles. The information system integrates order processing and customer service and this has given it a cost advantage with increase in scale of operations, driving down per-unit cost and Netflix has been able to price its service offering at levels difficult for competition to meet. Product Differentiation Netflixs personalized web based movie selection services and technological innovations in the movie recommendation algorithm are a huge entry barrier for new entrants. Although the software and technology is not hard to replicate Netflix has the advantage of a database of over half a billion movie ratings and takes in more than a million new ones every day. Focus on market niche Unlike competitors like Amazon, Netflix has built its information systems targeted to the in-home entertainment industry. It has engaged with partners to expand the number of devices which can support streaming videos from Netflix. Strengthen Customer and Supplier Intimacy Almost 60% of the movies customers put in their queue comes from Netflixs recommendation system and ensures customers run a lesser risk of wasting time on a movie that they will not enjoy. This increases the switching costs for the customer. Although the case study does not state anything explicitly, the annual reports of 2010 indicate that Netflix obtains content through streaming content license agreements, DVD direct purchases and DVD and streaming revenue sharing agreements with studios, distributors and other suppliers and our assumption is that suppliers would benefit from Netflixs recommendation software which could boost up sales of their not so popular titles. All new titles do not end up becoming blockbusters and the less popular ones could get recommended to customers with specific preferences based on Cinematch algorithm. Competitive strengths of Netflix include an iconic brand, personalized merchandising, growing scale without substantial increase in cost and an information system catering to convenience, selection and fast delivery. Principal competitors are DVD rental outlets and kiosk services, such as Blockbuster, Movie Gallery and Redbox (Source: Netflix Annual Reports 2010) Video package providers with pay-per-view and VOD content including cable providers, such as Time Warner and Comcast; direct broadcast satellite providers, such as DIRECTV and Echostar; and telecommunication providers such as ATT and Verizon (Source: Netflix Annual Reports 2010) Online DVD subscription rental web sites, such as Blockbuster Online (Source: Netflix Annual Reports 2010) Entertainment video retail stores, such as Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Amazon.com (Source: Netflix Annual Reports 2010) Internet movie and TV content providers, such as Apples iTunes, Amazon.com, Hulu.com and Googles YouTube. (Source: Netflix Annual Reports 2010) Popularity of alternative entertainment mediums which can be distributed using a similar business model like Netflix (Example Gaming CD and DVDs) Threats Currently the time for distribution in DVD format is shorter than release to other mediums (VOD, premium TV etc) after a theatrical release of a movie. This gives a competitive advantage to the DVD market. However this competitive advantage may go if the distribution to these multiple formats happens simultaneously. The proprietary technology and information systems are also based on a certain historic scale of operations which has increased substantially and this could lead to systemic disruptions and negatively impact operations. The DVD format would probably give way to Internet movie and TV content providers and Netflix would be left stranded with its warehouse and sophisticated mail handling systems. However the one thing which will continue to survive is CINEMATCH and its database of billions of movie ratings which will give a competitive edge to Netflix when it decides to switch over to other formats of movie distribution. AOL, Yahoo to Charge for Email Question: Yahoo and AOL are relying on some durable economic laws to support there new email product. What are these? What are the new opportunities that they can exploit by Certified mail product? Durable economy: Assumption: 1. Net Neutrality Legislation will not be approved by the congress. 2. Certified mails also have an opt-out feature that allows recipients to unsubscribe. A sustainable or durable economy requires the development of programs, policies, and implementable initiatives that encourage activities that will empower communities and conservation of resources; promote environmental justice; preserve ways-of-life; and promote by example and through discourse the ideas of ecological and participatory democracy and its real world implications. The basic principal of economy is to distribute the scare resource to most needy ones. In reference to this caselet, the spam mails are using the network bandwidth preventing the internet users to do there legitimate work. The real value produced by information providers comes in locating, filtering and communicating what is useful to the consumer. The certified email service allows email service providers to deliver only the legitimate emails to end users. As the legitimacy and the background of the email originators are already verified by the service providers like GoodMail, this will help in reducing the spam detection cost for AOL and Yahoo. Also, spam and Phishing is bigger threat to web based mail users. To keep the user experience, companies spending huge amount of money to reduce the spam. The fundamental factors that determine the profitability is industry structure and sustainable competitive advantage. By offering these service AOL and Yahoo can out perform there competit ion. There aint no such thing as a free lunch .The economic theory, and also the lay opinion, that whatever goods and services are provided, they must be paid for by someone. The information production and delivery systems requires significant amount of investment in Hardware, Software, network systems. To sustain this business, they need to recover the cost and make profit. The free mail based service cost the mail service providers close to $10-$12 per user. By charging the business to deliver there message to its users, they can recover this cost. Yahoo, AOL mail users will also benefit from this as the information sent to there inbox is useful to them and also they will have an option to unsubscribe these certified mails if they wish too. The business will be willing to pay these charges for sending the mails as this toll will allow them maximize there ROI. Opportunities for AOL and Yahoo: Customer care in a service-based industry and priority email delivery In the information age, service based industry rely heavily on email based communication. Companies want to make sure that, there product information, quires and customer concerns are addressed in stipulated time. The internet traffic is growing year by year and which creating the bandwidth issues. Yahoo and AOL can start the priority email service (similar to the Fedx, USPS, US post which charges for faster delivery) where they can provide the guarantee of delivering mails and to user inbox in stipulated time by charging the legitimate fees. They can work with ISPS to prioritize there mail traffic by sharing the revenue they earn. Eg. Distributed Document Processing services. Govt agencies wanting to reach out to mass public to explain there policies. Yahoo and AOL can offer products to government agencies where they can deliver there communication directly to users inbox. On line Advertising By collecting information about their interests, what particulars mail users want ( based on the responses to the certified mails),Yahoo and AOL can customize adds that can be displayed alongside users mail box page. Reduce the spam and provide security to there users. Phishing and online identity theft are the fastest-growing threats to the email users. By using certified email service Yahoo and AOL can fight the spams better which will help in en-reaching the user experience. This will attract more users.

A Humorous and Heartfelt Wedding Speech -- Wedding Toasts Roasts Speec

A Humorous and Heartfelt Wedding Speech Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen - I would like to start by thanking Frank on behalf of the bridesmaids for his kind comments and echo the fact that they look wonderful and performed their role fantastically well, despite the inevitable and healthy rivalry that can sometimes occur. In fact, just before the service I overheard a furious sisterly argument about who was going to be first to dance with the best man. Understandable, I thought - until I got closer and heard them saying, 'You!', 'no, you!' I've known Frank for the best part of 20 years now and of course there are plenty of things I could tell you about what we got up to in our younger days. Unfortunately, I did consult my solicitor and he tells me that we could still face prosecution, so maybe I’ll keep things to a minimum and talk about how nice he is. Frank is a quality ac... A Humorous and Heartfelt Wedding Speech -- Wedding Toasts Roasts Speec A Humorous and Heartfelt Wedding Speech Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen - I would like to start by thanking Frank on behalf of the bridesmaids for his kind comments and echo the fact that they look wonderful and performed their role fantastically well, despite the inevitable and healthy rivalry that can sometimes occur. In fact, just before the service I overheard a furious sisterly argument about who was going to be first to dance with the best man. Understandable, I thought - until I got closer and heard them saying, 'You!', 'no, you!' I've known Frank for the best part of 20 years now and of course there are plenty of things I could tell you about what we got up to in our younger days. Unfortunately, I did consult my solicitor and he tells me that we could still face prosecution, so maybe I’ll keep things to a minimum and talk about how nice he is. Frank is a quality ac...

Terry Scholarship Applicant

Terry Scholarship Applicants: Use this essay to discuss an experience demonstrating your leadership outside the classroom. ) Describe a significant setback, challenge or opportunity in your life and the impact that it has had on you. Dance has always been my passion. When I was undergoing some difficult problems in my life, I always turned back to dancing. For nine years I had been going to the same dance studio, Pointe & Plie, however, a couple of years ago the owner of the company had closed her dance studio and relocated to another city.I was devasted because I had grown to love the instructors and build a strong friendship with the girls there. After that I knew dance would never be the same. It wasn’t until a couple years later, that a opportunitity opened up at my church. One of my friends, Tess, had been wanting to start a Praise & Worship Dance Team. She was barely going to start the team, and she asked me if I could help her recruit more people and make routines.I was a bit hestiate because I hadn’t danced in a while, but she convinced me that through my years of experience, I could do it. I ended up adding five more girls to the team, and were able to perform numerous of times at our church. The dance team was doing magnificent, and with more experience, we started performing outside of our church, such as youth rallies, musicals, local events, and different churches. The girls had grown to love dance.The year was coming to an end, and we could not wait for what exciting performances and activites we could do the upcoming year. However, Tess, the captain of the dance team, was leaving to college. Some of the girls had gotten discouraged because they thought dancing was over, however, I was not going to repeat the same mistake. I took the iniative to pick the team up and continue the performances even after she left. We continued to practice, and each day we got better; we even were blessed to have more members to the dance team.And to th is day, we are still performing a different routine every month at our local church. We also have added a young dance team that run ages 9-14, they also perform with us to routines taught my myself and some of my friends. Through this experience, I learned to be a leader and to not loose faith in what your passion is. Dancing will never end for me. Eventhough, I have had some setbacks, I will continue doing what I love. I hope to one day inspire the people around me to not loose sight in your dream, even if things do not go as planned.

Advertising in Our Life Essay

The topic of advertising has aroused public concern. Some people say that advertising is helpful and informative, whilst others claim about that it can provide false information and will make goods more expensive. It is quite natural that people from different backgrounds have their own opinions on the issue. Therefore, both of these arguments will be analyzed before a reasoned conclusion is reached. From the one side, the opinion earlier may sound plausible due to the enormous benefits created by advertising. First of all, it can be said with certainty that there are many ways to advertise and ads come in different forms. This is obviously favorable because you can see advertising on newspapers, tv, and on the billboards everyday. Second of all, a further plus point could be that advertising is informative. This is definitely valuable since it introduce us to new products or remind of us the ones that we already know about. Last of all, it is hardly too much to say that advertising creates mass markets and makes goods cheaper. This is surely a positive feature because if there were no advertising, consumers would only know about goods in their local shops. Therefore advertising help to sell to a bigger market, the more goods are sold, the cheaper they become. From the other side, those who disagree point out that the negative influences of advertising are undeniable. The first drawback of this matter is there is people who do not enjoy seeing advertising everywhere, such as in newspaper and on buses. Most people would agree that this is problematic because they say advertisements are generally ugly to look at and spoil the environment. Another negative point is that advertising is not always truthful. And the trouble with this is that the advertiser tends to exaggerate the benefits of the merchandise he wants to sell. Thus, the consumer become victims of such advertising. Last but not least, it is supposed a further unfavorable quality might be that advertising adds to the cost of goods. This is an obvious weakness because the merchandiser has to pay the agency to run advertising campaign in order to introduce and sell their product to consumer. Taking everthing into account, for the reasons which I mentioned above, I believe that the advantages still outweigh disadvantages. So I do totally support the idea of advertising is helpful and informative.

ED510 Concepts of Internal External Validity Essays

ED510 Concepts of Internal External Validity Essays ED510 Concepts of Internal External Validity Paper ED510 Concepts of Internal External Validity Paper Internal Validity The ability to control the extraneous variables on the dependent variable. Anytime there are alternative explanations for the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable, internal validity is threatened. External Validity The ability to generalize the study results to other groups and settings beyond those in the current experiment. Research that can be generalized will have more practical value. Threats to Internal Validity Extraneous factors that allow for alternative explanations as to what caused the given effect on the dependent variable. History Effect A threat to internal validity when events occur between the pretest and posttest of an experiment that could affect participants in such as way as to impact the dependent variable (stress, illness, etc). What can a researcher do? Use a control group that has not been effected or mildly effected by the even. Control Group A group of participants exactly like the treatment group in every way possible except that they receive no treatment. Experimental Group The group receiving the treatment. Maturation Effect Occurs when there are changes seen in subjects because of the time that has elapsed since the study began and which may not be the result of of any program effects. Most common in children being studied. What can a researcher do? Use a control group. Testing In many types of research it is necessary to pretest participants to establish a baseline of the dependent variable. The pretest is usually compared to the posttest measurement to determine the effectiveness of a treatment. However, by being tested, participants may become test wise. Any differences seen from the basline to the posttest may be form testing effects. What can a researcher do? Use a control group that does not receive any pretesting. Test Wise By testing, participants may learn how to do better on the test next time they take it. Instrumentation Instrumentation used to collect data can cause threats to internal validity where measurements are not accurate or procedures are not standardized. What can a researcher do? Use a well designed instrument that accurately measures what it is supposed to measure. Selection Bias Anytime individuals are selected in a non: A study on a new health site, it is probably that those who choose to participate are interested in health. What can a researcher do? Although this cannot be completely countered, recruiting volunteers and then randomly assigning them is better than allowing them to self-select a group. Also, matching them on selected characteristics and then randomly assigning them can help. Finally, pretesting groups on measures of the dependent variable to make sure there are no pretreatment differences between groups can help. Selection Maturation Effect A combination of selection bias and maturation effect. This occurs when using intact groups that vary in their maturation level. What can a researcher do? Pretesting and/or prescreening groups on maturity levels. Statistical Regression Occurs when participants are selected on the basis of their extremely high or low scores. If these same participants were administered the same instrument again, the tendency would be for those who scored extremely high on the first test to score lower on the second test and vice versa. What can a researcher do? The study could be designed to follow a random sample of individuals representing a full range of scores rather than placing participants in high and low groups based on one testing. Mortality/Attrition It is common to lose participants over the course of a study. In longitudinal studies, some may die; in others, some will drop out or move without leaving contact information. This creates a mortality effect. Loss of subjects hurts the validity of comparisons. What can a researcher do? Provide incentive for participants. Hawthorne Effect When participants attitudes toward being involved in a study affect the way they behave. ; What can a researcher do? Try to provide the control group with some special treatment that is comparable to the experimental group but would not have direct impact on the independent variable. Also, keep participants from knowing that htye are taking part in a study or being observed. ; ; Placebo Effect Effects caused by participants expectations rather than the actual treatment. What can a researcher do? Use a blind or double-blind study. Also, ensure that those in both the control and experimental groups receive the same information so that both groups have similar expectations. Lastly, give both groups as little information as possible to evade expectations. Diffusion Treatment The Diffusion effect occurs when the treatment being applied to one group spills over or contaminates another group. What can a researcher do? Use control/experimental groups that live separately from each other. Urge participants to keep personal effects of the treatment confidential until the end. Location Location effect occurs when there are differences in the locations where interventions take place. What can a researcher do? Make the locations the same for all participants. If thats not possible, the researcher should try and minimize location differences that affect the dependent variable. ; ; Implementation Incolges the individual or individuals responsible for implementing the experimental treatment and the possibility that they may inadvertently introduce inequality or bias into the study. ; What can a researcher do? Make sure all persons responsible for implementing the program are equally trained and competent, and following standardized protocol. Another way is to have somone other than the program developer present the program. Lastly, internal validity can be controlled by having a neutral observer watch the presenter. ; ; Threats to Internal Validity Extraneous factors that threat the ability to generalize the findings to the population. ; ; Selection Treatment Interaction Concerns the ability of the researcher to generalize the results of a study beyond the groups involved in the study. ; What can a researcher do? Random selection from a population to form a study population. ; ; Setting Treatment Interaction Concerns the extent to which the environmental conditions or setting under which an experimental study was conducted can be duplicated in other settings. ; What can a researcher do? Consider differences in backgrounds of different populations as well as the settings they are given the study. ; ; History Treatment Interaction This develops when the researcher tries to generalize findings to past and future situations. Some experiements may be time sensitive and not produce similar results if conducted earlier or later. ; What can a researcher do? Take into consideration effects of timing, and adjust the study accordingly. ; ; Increasing Internal ; External Validity Maximize Internal Validity by using the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). This analysis equalizes many initial differences that might exist between groups. ; Maximize External Validity by carefully considering what groups can one legitimately generalize to. Also, always duplicate a setting and historical factors as nearly as possible when replicating a study with a different population. ; ; REMEMBER External Validity CANNOT exist without Internal Validity! ; Researchers should always be concerned about ensuring Internal Validity before trying to establish External Validity!