When the Problem is Finding Solutions, What Do You Do?

I know I speak for everyone in our batch when I say that as MIS graduates in Ateneo, our line of work, our ideal for performing our tasks of providing systems for clients is providing solutions. In fact, that has been the first step in the approval of a project, to find a client, assess their problem, and propose a just solution. What then if the problem is providing solutions, should we just stop? This is the issue of LTRFB on certain transportation- and carpool-monitoring Software, Tripid and Uber.

Source: http://www.interaksyon.com/motoring/stop-ltfrb-not-happy-about-latest-transport-apps-craze-uber-and-tripid/

Tripid  is an application which enables people going in the same routes or destination to pool in the same car by reserving seats in private vehicles. This is a very convenient app for those who commute, specially during the rush hours, even more specially for those who sardinefy themselves in the MRT. Believe me, what people go through when riding the MRT peak times is worthy of its own adjective.  With this application, not only will people have a better, more convenient alternative for commuting, they also can help lessen carbon footprint for those who travel on their own cars alone. Ultimately, this will also lead to a less congested traffic via EDSA which one and all will benefit from. Payment for the ride is demanded by the car owner, and riders are free to choose which arrangements they want to reserve, 

Uber on the otherhand is an application which connects you to partner company vehicles to arrange a ride. While it may be of the same line of service as that of Tripid, the cars utilized in Uber are from direct partners with direct relations to the company. With that, the benefits of this app is also the same. 

There is a problem, however, as LTFRB which stands for Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board issued a show-cause order for the two companies. The issue is that with the kind of service they are providing, there is allegedly a breach of law, in that proper consultation and legal arrangements should've been made first with the office before implementing the applications. According to LTFRB Chair Ginez, “They are a public service and they have to secure a franchise. What they are doing is a criminal violation of the public service law,”. First of all, I have an issue here with the definition of public. When one is considered public, this means that every one is free and has equal opportunity to make use of this space and property. A public space for example can be freely utilized by anyone, and no one can deny them from using it. In contrast, a private space is owned and use of this space, or property for that matter, completely depends on the wishes of this owner. Categorizing the mode of transportation tapped by Tripid and Uber, we can easily identify them as being private vehicles, not a public one just as what LTFRB claims. 

I find that there is a difference in understanding the use of IT from the LTFRB. In the cases of these applications, their purpose is merely one of support, and not of business. Why do I say that? It's because the service they offer is one which, with or without these apps, happens anyway. As a support function, they just made this service easier to arrange, communicate, and execute. Then again, Ginez countered this by saying that "they are providing a system for someone to violate the law". Since was carpooling ever considered illegal; on that same note, neither is it considered public service before the apps came out. So, what then could LTRFB's motives be for illegalizing them.

The point is, there is an ongoing problem with the traffic and environment in the country which need to be addressed. Why hinder a possible solution to these problems? 

It's Not So Smart to use Smartphones at Night

WANTED:

• People who own smartphones and use them before going to bed
• People who claim to be sleep deprived
• People who want and/or need to be productive but just can't

If the conditions stated above fit your bill, then this blog post is for you! One study shows how late night use of smartphones diminish a person's productivity level come the next day. This is consequent to the fact that smartphones emit 'blue light' which hinders the production of melatonin - the chemical responsible for #PUSHing for relaxation and sleep. (What random hashtags)

Check the article here: http://ph.she.yahoo.com/blogs/shine-on/smartphone-night-harms-productivity-next-day-214744030.html

At this day and age where everything is just so digital and fast-paced, workers and even students alike feel the need to be updated on happenings by the minute. We feel insecure about the notifications we might miss specially if it's coming from our work. Personally, I struggle with late night posts and announcements from teachers and groupmates for various instances due to the fact that I sleep early. With the advent of smartphones, checking my email and social media accounts became the first and last thing I do before and after I sleep. 

There is a problem, however. With wanting to be productive even at the wee hours of the night, sleep is being compromised, thus resulting to a lower productivity level the next day. It simply follows that by not getting enough sleep, we will have fewer energy to get us through the day and we don't want that. To properly and quickly get sleep, we must detach ourselves from all forms of mental activities which includes work anxiety and engagement with our phones.

Bottomline is that smartphone usage has an effect on our brain activities. It would be smart to steer clear of using our phones before retiring at night to make the most out of our recharching time. Also, it might also be smart to avoid burying your phone under your pillow when you sleep because of the radiation. 

One side I'd like to check though is whether or not it is benefitial to use smartphones upon waking up to get our minds working. I mean, as a person who snoozes around five times before actually getting out of bed, maybe I can use this effect to reduce my sleepiness in the morning. Who knows no? If it works maybe it would lessen my tardiness in my morning classes.

Comets You Wouldn’t Need a Telescope to See: The New Generation Public Transportation

            As a commuter, I use jeepneys of all sorts - colors and routes, in my daily travel to school and back home. Despite that, I’m sure it’s very easy to say that, and this goes for all the commuters and motorists out there, there are a lot of things you hate about the jeepney attitude in the country. One, they stop whenever and wherever they want. Two, they don’t give two cents about the safety of their passengers, Need-for-Speeding their way to their destinations. Three, they puff out the blackest of smokes, leaving a trail of what can only be called the death of our ozone as we know it. I say fear not, all these are being addressed in the latest proposal for the next generation public transportation vehicles – the COMET.

                 

                [Check this out: http://www.rappler.com/nation/42273-e-shuttle-comet-ph-jeepney]

            COMET stands for City Optimized Managed Electric Transport. As the name implies, it’s an electricity-run vehicle designed for city use and transport. What’s good about our friend, COMET, is that it tries to address the aforementioned problems of the current jeepney culture in the country. For one, the COMET is designed so that terminals are setup every 200-300 meters, systematizing the ins-and-outs of passengers. Second, it has a speedometer cap of 60kmph. While this may be questionably slow for some, it is only fitting for the traffic congestion in major cities in the country. Besides, believe me when I say that “patok” jeeps run in death-defying speeds as they play a very loud ‘Ice, Ice, Baby’ on their radios. The safety of passengers surely matter. Third, it runs on a battery which lasts 7 years, much better compared to previous designs of earlier e-vehicles whose batteries only run for a good 1 year. The lithium iron phosphate battery installed in COMET is enough to power a 100km-travel in a day until charged next. With this, it has zero carbon emission; hence no smoke belching and thus, say hello to blemish free skin for us commuters.

 

            That’s not all you can expect about COMET because there’s more! IT-wise, it needs an integrated traffic and route management system. Each vehicle is equipped with Wi-Fi, GPS, and CCTV which are all connected to a centralized system which enables for a more dynamic travel scheme. If there is an excess of COMETs deployed and a limited volume of passengers, they can be withdrawn from the road and re-deployed in other areas which are in more need of a ride. Furthermore, the system will make use of an LRT-like mechanism for fare payments. Passengers who wish to use COMET will have to buy stored-value cards which they have to tap in upon riding, and tap out again when going down. This lessens passenger contact inside the vehicle. I personally can’t be thankful enough for this feature having experienced passengers who will desperately avoid eye contact so they don’t feel morally obligated to do you a favor of passing your fare to the conductor. As for its appearance, the interior is spacious with a 6ft tall head clearance and doors on the side. This reduces the risk of seeing buttcracks as fellow passengers crouch to alight the jeep. But seriously though, this allows for easier and faster navigation inside. More importantly, passengers can go down the sidewalks instead of jumping into the bumpers of the vehicle behind your jeep.

[Check this out: http://www.rappler.com/nation/42273-e-shuttle-comet-ph-jeepney]

            The COMETs are set to be released this month. The pilot run will deploy 30 vehicles going from SM North EDSA to Megamall, travelling through Katipunan. This only means that we will be seeing a lot of COMETs in the near future. As a commuter and an environmentally concerned citizen, I must say, this COMET is truly sent from above.

            Whatchuthink?

Using Vanity as Your Business Capital: e-commerce on Facebook

Friends, countrymen, lend me your ears!!

                  Bear with me as I make yet another attempt at providing you an interesting read. This time, and for the next few posts, I will be writing about the latest IT trends coming out in our very rapidly advancing world (at least technologically). Seriously though, this will be as techy as I can ever get – not very much.

                  For my first assignment, I will be writing about the latest trend on e-commerce using Facebook as the main medium for conducting one’s business. Since social media has become a hit, a lot of business men have opted to transfer their main business operations online. Why? Some reasons I can think of would be because  a.) it saves them the expense of having to rent physical stores, b.) data mining and customer relations is made easier with a more open and real-time communication line, and c.) it can be managed easily even with just a handful of people, maybe even alone. Naturally, Facebook, being the number one social media platform at present, was also used for e-commerce for a lot of different businesses – shout out to Alfons Joson and his shoe business Kick Starter on Facebook  (pay me, this is advertisement). Actually, I’m sure some of my readers are aware of Ateneo’s very own ‘Ateneo Trade’ FB group which allows Ateneans to buy and sell their own things. There are a lot more Ateneo affiliated groups which serve the purpose of conducting e-commerce, but I will not delve into that anymore.

                     There is one problem though with using Facebook as an e-commerce site. It updates too much, and therefore aren’t Facebook-dependent businesses on constant risk of change management issues every time such updates on the platform are implemented? Yes they are. This is what Nicholas Carlson discussed in his article in Business Insider (link: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-kid-makes-his-whole-living-off-facebook-traffic-2014-1#ixzz2pERRmuEw). With the latest update of Facebook, the newsfeed of each people are programmed so that the ‘hottest’ topic will bump up the top automatically. This is made so by cumulatively and comparatively sorting which posts, images, and such are liked, viewed, and/or commented on by a lot of your Facebook friends. The issue then is that online businesses don’t generally make a buzz big enough to stay on each customer’s newsfeed. Personally, we only follow Facebook business groups which sell items we are interested in. Chances are that most of our friends are not into the same interests. For example, I follow the Ateneo Book Market, but since only a handful of my close friends actually read books, I never get to see any posts from this group on my newsfeed. Get it, get it?? :3

                  So what then, is this the death of Facebook e-commerce as we know it? Not according to one Koby Conrad who successfully runs his business, Hippies Hope Shop, on Facebook even with the latest newsfeed implementation I stated above. I will only summarize his points because you can read the whole thing on the link I put on the previous paragraph. Basically what he’s saying is that business men should use the world’s vanity as their main capital to push their e-commerce business. According to him, the most common mistake that most Facebook businesses do is posting too much infomercial. The trend now is the ‘Self’ (hence, selfies). People use social networks to share a piece of their self to the world – their thoughts, whereabouts, interests, selfies. With that said, businesses should capitalize on this vanity by means of making their customers feel that the number one for you is them. Post frequently, but not just boring infomercials. Have your customers participate by asking questions, replying to their answers, facilitating games. Do this regularly a few times a day to give your customers something to get back to. As per inter-business relations online, there’s also vanity involved here. Arrange with other businesses a deal wherein one and all will benefit! This can be done through networking. Use the “I will promote you on my page, if you promote me on yours” card.

                  In conclusion, I would say that the quick advancement of technology, while it is in itself the very symbol of progress, also poses a threat to businesses which are heavily reliant on IT. Business processes can easily be shifted in accordance to the regular IT updates. Although one such as Mr. Conrad find a way to still make it work in this scenario, is not easy to say that social networking sites give off too many risks to be the main base of operations of any business? Would you consider putting up your business on Facebook?

                  To answer the question, type CHO ANSWER Chochowariwariwap, and post as comment. My blog ended with a question. See, I’m learning.