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Decentralized Social Networking
Diaspora is a free personal web server that implements a distributed social networking service, providing a decentralized alternative to social network services like Facebook.
The project is currently under development by Dan Grippi, Maxwell Salzberg, Raphael Sofaer, and Ilya Zhitomirskiy, students at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.
They gave themselves 39 days to raise $10,000 and within 12 they met their target.
The group received donations in excess of $200,000 via Kickstarter. A consumer alpha version was released on November 23, 2010.
Bikenomics
by Elly Blue
9 May 2011 11:09 AM
Economics of bicycling.
as bike commute trips continue to rise nationwide, many employers are catching on to the benefits they can gain by actually encouraging employees to bike to work. Some are even shelling out cold, hard cash in an effort to boost their ranks of bike commuters.
A Dutch study last year found that cycle commuters provide their employers with an economic advantage by requiring fewer sick days each year and enjoying better overall health.
Other research has shown that bike commuters are happier and less stressed than those who drive or take transit. At rush hour, your bicycling employees may get to work faster and with fewer unexpected delays.
Perhaps most quantifiably, bike commuting employees don’t require nearly the same amount of investment in parking—even when employers invest in deluxe, secure bike parking facilities.
OHSU, a teaching hospital in a hilly section of Portland hemmed in by narrow roads and expensive real estate, is acutely attuned to all the benefits of a bicycling workforce. They’ve seen bike trips “skyrocket” since they began handing out a $50 cash incentive for every 30 days of bike commuting an employee logs.
Indoor, secure bike parking with lockers, showers, and changing rooms are the traditional hallmark of a bike-friendly workplace. These amenities can be essential for employees in suburban offices who must look professional after commuting long distances in extreme weather. Several companies go a step further, responding to employee demand by providing dry cleaning pickup and dropoff services so that bicycling employees can skip the once-a-week car commute to restock their supply of fresh suits.
Let’s take another look at Netflix. The company has a much-lauded policy of allowing employees to work whatever hours they like and take as many days off as they need, so long as they continue to excel at their job.
Such policies, and the company cultures they create, can be invaluable to workers who want to skip rush hour, take their bikes on less crowded trains, head off on focus-enhancing lunchtime rides, or simply commute fewer days per week.
We’re fortunate that more and more companies are starting to see past the old prejudices against bicycling and notice the bottom line benefits of encouraging employees—all of them—to ride.
Why we watch high achievers:
We are enthralled by high performing athletes and high achievers not because we find their achievements impressive; it is because we are amazed by what we see we are capable off within them; we watch others discover what we are capable of.
Human Error & Culture
10 min.
When pilots in the cockpit do not communicate openly and honestly and freely; you have problems.
In cultures where it is difficult for a subordinate to speak openly to a superior, you will have more plane crashes.
In hierarchical cultures (countries such as Asian nations, Korea being the example used here) this has been the case and they have had to come to terms with it to change this in the airline industry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBZcMQILVtc&feature=related
How corporate logos rule your subconscious.
Our world is saturated with commercial images. Each of us is subjected to 3,000 to 10,000 brand exposures every day—not just in television commercials and on freeway billboards but also via the decals on people's T-shirts and the logos on our coworkers' coffee mugs. Psychologists are discovering that exposure to brand images can have a profound effect on everything from honesty to creativity.
To test the effects of brand logo exposure on behavior, researchers set up an experiment in which subjects saw either the Apple logo or the IBM logo subtly displayed. Then they were asked to name as many uses for a brick as they could think of. People who'd seen the Apple logo were more creative—as long as they valued personal creativity to begin with. In another experiment, people were exposed to the logo of either Disney or the E! Entertainment network. Those who saw the Disney logo answered questions more honestly.
"Every brand comes with a set of associations," explains study co-author Gavan Fitzsimons, a professor of psychology and marketing at Duke University. "When we're exposed to logos, those associations fire automatically, activating our motivational systems and leading us to behave in ways that are consistent with the brand image"—and our preexisting drives. Over the years, all the Think Different ads we've seen have seared a link in our brains between Apple and creativity. The same goes for Disney and honesty. Unless, of course, you're a disgruntled duck.
Why Canada's housing market is destined to slump
By GEORGE ATHANASSAKOS
(Original Article here:)
George Athanassakos is a professor of finance and holds the Ben Graham Chair in Value Investing at the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario
The resilience of the Canadian housing market has confounded experts. While other property markets around the world have plunged, real estate prices in this country continue to reach new heights.
If the Canadian housing market does falter, the impact on the economy will be profound. Consumer spending and housing investment will feel the pain, and the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp., which provides mortgage loan insurance, will face substantial losses.
Some believe that low interest rates, solid banks, a growing economy, abundant natural resources and a relatively conservative mortgage market (at least compared to the United States) will all continue to support Canadian housing prices. Optimists argue that the run up in Canadian home prices has been based on strong demand from homeowners, while construction in the U.S. ran well ahead of actual demand and was fueled by speculators.
But there's another side to this debate. I believe that Canada's high house prices in relation to incomes, combined with record household debt levels and over investment in residential construction, will spur a severe correction in the real estate market.
Home prices are simply way out of line, especially when viewed in relation to household income. The ratio of house prices to income has historically averaged about 3.5 in Canada. It now stands at about 5.5. It is difficult to see how income growth in the future can bring this ratio close to the historical average within any reasonable period - so it follows that house prices will have to decline.
Signs of stress are already evident, especially when you look at household debt levels. In recent years, the gap between house prices and income has been bridged through borrowing. The average Canadian family debt hit $100,000 in 2010. About 17,400 households are behind in their mortgage payments, an increase of nearly 50 per cent since the start of the last recession.
The current consensus is that Canada's real estate market has achieved a "soft" landing and that prices will flat line but not decline substantially over the next several years. I disagree. The housing market is already in bubble territory. Average house prices have doubled in the last 10 years, while rents have risen by only about 30 per cent. The ratio of house prices to rent is higher in Canada than in any other developed country.
An even more powerful indicator also points to a severe housing correction in Canada. Residential housing investment as a percentage of GDP was 6.48 per cent in 2009, down slightly from 6.76 per cent in 2008, after peaking at 7.13 per cent in 2007. The previous peaks were at 7.26 per cent in 1976 and 7.18 per cent in 1989 - and we know what happened to Canada's housing market in the early 1980s and early 1990s. After residential housing investment as a percentage of GDP peaked in the previous two cycles, the housing market crashed within a few years.
I believe we are running out of time. By way of a comparison, this ratio peaked at about 6.1 per cent in the U.S. in the mid-2000s at the height of its housing bubble, and toward the end of the 1980s in Japan, when that country was nearing the end of its own property boom. Both countries experienced sharp declines in housing prices soon afterward. (The ratio stands at 6.0 per cent in China at the end of 2010 - no wonder there is talk of a housing bubble there.)
Canada is past the point of no return. What has propped up the housing market in Canada and delayed the correction is artificial demand from Asian investors. It is not clear when this demand will dry up, but it eventually will. Once it does, watch out.
The ratio of residential investment to GDP has provided a powerful leading indicator of housing corrections around the world and in Canada in the past. The question is, why would it not work this time around? I'm willing to listen.
Consumers take control of brands on social media with ‘mutant ads’
Sites such as YouTube host videos that often reveal public perception — good or bad
By LAURA KANE
Vancouver Sun May 12, 2011
A commercial shows a young woman extolling the rich flavour of Starbucks’ Frappuccino. “I don’t know anybody who doesn’t love a frappuccino on a hot summer day,” she gushes. Then a frown. A frappuccino just costs so darn much. How much? Well, enough to feed a child in a Sudanese refugee camp for a week, she says.
Hit pause.
Why would Starbucks make a commercial emphasizing the view that their costly beverage is an overindulgence?
Short answer: They didn’t. The commercial is a fake, part of a growing trend of “mutant ads,” or mock ads created by consumers and posted on social media channels, according to a recent Simon Fraser University study.
An international group of researchers, including Leyland Pitt and Michael Parent of SFU’s Beedie School of Business, examined four examples of mutant ads posted on YouTube to determine how consumers are transforming brands — whether companies like it or not.
“The consequences, I think, are quite profound,” said Pitt. “Brand managers have lost control of the brand in this environment.”
The study, published in the spring issue of Journal of Advertising, suggests that brand managers will have to pay attention to this new digital wave of advertising and figure out how to respond appropriately.
Negative mock ads like the frappuccino commercial can be potentially very damaging for brands, Pitt said.
“In a way, she’s making fun of us as consumers who are willing to pay these prices, but on the other hand she’s taking a serious dig at Starbucks.”
Researchers examined not only the ads themselves, but the conversations that arose in the comments section on YouTube.
Pitt noted there was a large group of viewers who defended Starbucks, in addition to those who agreed with the video’s message.
Not all mock ads are negative. The study identified three basic motivations that consumers have for creating and broadcasting ads: intrinsic enjoyment, self-promotion and perception change. A slick ad for the Apple iPhone created by a group of directors called “the Consultants” has caught the attention of more than 100,000 viewers since it was uploaded to YouTube in 2007.
The video shows people in New York praising the phone’s features in different languages.
The trend of mock ads is only one part of the growing social media shift, whereby more control is placed in the hands of consumers to shape a brand’s image, Pitt said.
“The best thing companies can do is try to abdicate control of the brand and allow the conversation to happen.”
One common mistake is that brands use social media the same way they would have used traditional advertising, Pitt said.
“You can’t just rush in and say, ‘What we were going to tell you on television we’re going to tell you on Facebook ...’
“You’ve almost got to be invited to be a part of the conversation.”
lkane@vancouversun.com
From http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Consumers+take+control+brands+social+media+with+mutant/4767854/story.html#ixzz1MLdZwFyP
sample videos here also