Week 5-Offensive Video Games

I am EXTREMELY disturbed by the  article "The 15 Most Offensive Video Games Ever Made."  I have never been much of a gamer, in fact the only video game I have ever been any good at was Mario Brothers from the original Nintendo.  That being said I do not have much experience with the types of games that are on the market.  However, I would have never imagined that the type of games described in this article existed.    Over the years, I have heard a few news casts about controversy surrounding a certain video game that is to be released, but I don't recall anything about these games.  I do not understand how can companies agree to produce these types of games?  Do these games sell? Are they making a profit? I really hope not. I want to believe that there are not that many disturbed people in the world that these companies are making money off of games that depict rape, murder, torture, and the list goes on and on.  However, I also want to believe that the are not people out there who can event these sick games, but as the article shows that isn't the case.

Week 4: What your Smartphone says about you?

As an iPhone user, the article Android, iPhone, Blackberry: What They say about You caught my eye.  I was curious to see if I fit into the stereotypical iPhone user category.  According to the article I am more likely to have a landlines than an Android users, less likely to recycle than the Blackberry user, and more chatty than other phone users.  Well.....I don't have landline, only recycle on campus, and don't spend much time talking or texting on my phone, so I guess they were right on one instance.  The article also revealed that iPhone users were more likely to make purchases and watch TV on their phone than Android or Blackberry users; I occasionally make purchases but never watch TV on my phone.  Where the article did seem to match me correctly to other iPhone users was when it pointed out that users are not as techy as they may seem.  iPhone users are more likely to rent movies from Blockbuster, read books, and not know what type of TV they have, all of which I do.  So I guess my phone does reveal some things about me. I wonder if the Blackberry and Android users feel the same way?

Week 3- Barnes and Noble to Increase e-book sales

In class we have talked about how Barnes and Noble is struggling as Amazon continues to grow.  In the article "Barnes & Noble Expects $1B in Digital Book Sales By 2013", it seems that B&N is working to expand its e-books area. This seems like a good strategic move for B&N as their profits continue to fall and the demand for e-books and the popularity Kindle continues to grow.  However, I just don't understand people's infatuation with reading a book from a computer screen.  I enjoy sitting down with a good book that I touch and flip the pages or having a textbook I can highlight and make notes in.  While the idea of paying 50% less for textbooks is appealing, I'm just not sure e-books is for me.  As we continue to move to an electronic world, are we also moving to a world without pens and paper?  Will we eventually enter an era where paper books and writing by hand is obsolete?  Will our children feel the same way about paper books as we do about typewriters?  While I understand B&N's move to the world of e-books, I also hope we do not loose the option to have paper books.

Week 2-AT&T Claims to have Improved Service

AT&T Boasts of Billions Spent on Network Improvements
As an AT&T customer this article caught my eye.  I regularly have trouble with dropped calls, unexplained loss of service, and let's not mention the issues on game days.  So I was very interested to see what AT&T was going to do with these billions of dollars to improve their service.  I was disappointed to find out that much of this money has already be spent on putting up more towers around the US in the first six months of 2010.  This means that I should have already seen improvements in service, and I haven't.  It is being speculated that AT&T's exclusive iPhone contract is coming to an end, and as a result they sent out a letter to customers and held a press conference to publicize improvements to the network as a way to retain customers.  AT&T denies these allegations, saying they simply want customers to know that customer satisfaction is their number one priority. 
Well AT&T I am not exactly satisfied.  I can deal with the occasional dropped calls and loss of service, but what I do have a problem with is not being able to use my phone when I REALLY need it, i.e. game day, Mardi Gras, anytime their are thousands of people in one area and I am trying to find someone.  It also seems that every time I am trying to access the Internet on my iPhone for something I need to find out at that moment, it decides not to work or freeze up.  It is that my expectations for my cell phone are too high?  Does that level of technology in such a small device mean that problems are going to arise?  I have never used another cell phone server, so maybe these are common problems that everyone experiences.  But if not, AT&T may need to spend a few billion more dollars, because I'm sure many people will move to competitors if their iPhone contract really is ending.

Week 1: Six IT Decisions Your IT People Shouldn't Make

http://moodle.lsu.edu/file.php/8993/HBR_Articles/Six_IT_Decisions_Your_IT_People_Shouldn_t_Make.pdf

This article states that their are six IT decisions that mangers should make, regardless of their IT knowledge.
1. How much should we spend on IT?
Many companies determine what their IT costs should be by using industry benchmarks.  However, a  better way to make this decision is to determine what your IT department's role will be in the business strategy and base funding on the amount of money needed to achieve that objective.
2. Which business processes should receive our IT dollars?
Many companies have multiple things that they would like their IT department to achieve.  However,  it is important not to overwhelm the IT department with too many tasks or to allow the IT executives to determine the priority of these tasks. Business managers should determine which IT initiatives are the most essential to the organizations success and prioritize accordingly.
3. Which IT capabilities need to be companywide?
It is the job of managers to determine which IT capabilities should be companywide and which should be for a specific business-unit. 
4. How good do our IT services need to be?
It is up to managers to determine how important IT services are to the company as a whole and how much the company is willing to pay to insure these IT services are provided. 
5. What security and privacy risks we will accept?
High levels of security can come with high levels of cost and inconvenience.  It is up to the manager to determine what level of security is necessary while keeping in mind the need for simplicity.
6. Whom do we blame if an IT initiative fails?To avoid finger pointing when something goes wrong, organizations should assign a business executive to be accountable for IT projects and to oversee the implementation of these projects.

As someone who knows very little about IT, I assumed that all IT related decisions would best be made by an IT executive.  However, as a future manager I can now see that it is important to determine how IT's role will affect the business side of an organization and that there are certain decisions that should not be left up to the IT department.  This does make me wonder, though, how a manager should go about having a meeting with an IT executive if they understand very little IT terminology?  When I hear my computer savvy friends discussing different types of hardware, software, programming, etc it seems as if they are talking in a foreign language, so how will I be able to successfully determine IT's roles and objectives without understanding the terminology?.........I guess I can only hope that my ISDS classes will prepare me for those IT meetings.